A 60 year old man from Veles died in police custody yesterday after being detained for not wearing a mask.

Police officers claim that they were identifying the man and were about to cite him for walking without a mask, when he grabbed his identity card from their hands and tried to run. The officers arrested the man and brought him to a police station, where he got sick and eventually died after being transported to the city hospital.

A draconian set of restrictions adopted at the end of 2020 mandated that citizens must wear masks even when walking alone in the open. It is widely ignored but officers are still randomly fining citizens.