VMRO-DPMNE President Hristijan Mickoski expressed support to Interior Minister Nake Culev for his handling of the near riot in Skopje’s Cento district on Monday evening.\

Activists of the ethnic Albanian wing of the ruling SDSM party were detained there for violating the curfew, which prompted a mass protest during which dozens of men also violated the curfew. Culev announced criminal charges against the offenders.

What happened there was a small group of citizens violating the law, violating the curfew and endangering their own and the lives of their fellow citizens. I want to express my full support in the interim Interior Minister Nake Culev who acted decisively and filed charges against the three men who initiated the incident, Mickoski said.

The men were released under pressure from the local Mayor Boris Georgievski, who is an official of the SDSM party, and who was himself threatened by the mob.