Furkan Saliu, journalist for the Portalix news site, was arrested today after an incident at a football game.

The police informed that there was an incident this afternoon during a the third league match between Konjare and Kumanovo, when the home team supporters attacked the Kumanovo players. Police intervened and two men attacked officers, the police report informs, and were arrested. Among them is Furkan Saliu. The police also informs that during the subsequent search of Saliu’s vehicle, driven by another person, a handgun was found in the trunk.

Saliu posted a comment through the Facebook page of his news site, in which he expresses regret for his actions, denies attacking the police and acknowledged having a handgun in his vehicle – with a permit.

At the moment I’m kept at the Avtokomanda police station. I regret if my actions possibly led to an escalation of the situation and ended with me in handcuffs. I am also sorry if I disappointed those who believe in my work. I assure you that I did not attack the police. Even though everything was recorded, the police deleted my recordings in the police station. Regarding the handgun that was found in my car, it is a licensed handgun, Saliu said.

The ZNM association of journalists and presidential candidate Arben Taravari called for Saliu’s release. SDSM party officials immediately accused VMRO-DPMNE of involvement in Saliu’s arrest. Deputy Prime Minister Bojan Maricic said that “today it’s Furkan, and tomorrow it could be anyone else – we must safeguard our freedom and not allow a regime to be restored ever again”. VMRO-DPMNE issued a statement of support for the journalists doing their jobs, as well as condemning Saliu’s reported attack on a police officer. “If the attack is confirmed, the perpetrator should bear all consequences in accordance with law”.

Interim Interior Minister Pance Toskovski said that Saliu was arrested after “carrying out an attack on police officers – members of the rapid response unit that was tasked with securing a football match that was seen as a high risk event. Following the arrest of F.S., a handgun was found during the search of his vehicle. I understand the concern expressed by the Association of Journalists and the Union of Journalists, but as Interior Minister I must act equally toward anyone who assaults a police officer, in accordance with legal procedures. I call on all political parties, associations and unions to refrain from making statements and comments that put pressure on the police and to allow the police officers to do their job professionally, without political involvement and in accordance with the law”.

Saliu is known for his field reporting, often accusing officials of corruption. He is also seen as a supporter of the Government – in a recent report, he shared what he claims are minutes from a meeting of the opposition VMRO-DPMNE party, allegedly containing their PR plans for the coming elections and the sharing of opinion polls. VMRO-DPMNE strongly denied the veracity of the documents, while the ruling SDSM party, seemingly coordinating with Saliu’s report, is trying to make the allegation an important part of the election campaign. SDSM is struggling to motivate its supporters after a number of failures in foreign policy, the economy and basic housekeeping issues such as the issuing of passports, and after polls have shown a significant VMRO lead, SDSM’s new strategy is to dispute the polls.

Saliu, who is an ethnic Albanian, has also been criticized in the public for focusing his corruption investigations against ethnic Macedonian officials, and avoiding reports of Government corruption – especially in the ruling DUI party which represents mostly Albanians. Just days before the arrest, he did an interview with the Infomax news site, in which he featured his nationalist Albanian football tattoo.