The newly built minaret of the Ali Pasha mosque in Ohrid is set to be opened on Eid al Fitr, June 6th, the end of the month of Ramadan.

Christian citizens in Ohrid protested the building of the minaret which is set to dominate the old city, which is Macedonia’s main site of Christian pilgrimage. Local authorities refused to allow its construction and protests were held throughout the construction of the minaret, but Prime Minister Zoran Zaev, in desperate need for the Albanian Muslim vote during the presidential election, allowed its completion.

he minaret was toppled in 1912, with the defeat of the Ottoman Empire.