Only a few dozen SDSM party activists showed up at the scheduled protests that was supposed to include thousands of public school teachers. The opposition party called on the teachers to show up before the Education Ministry today and demand higher salaries, but the attempt was a dud.

We saw a fiasco in front of the Education Ministry, where only 20 party activists came to what was announced as a large protest. Venko Filipce does not have the support of his party members, let alone the people, said VMRO member of Parliament Sergej Popov, adding that SDSM had years to increase teacher salaries to their desired levels.

Previously, SDSM leader Venko Filipce pointed to the rising prices and said that living standards of teachers are declining. SONK, the largest union that represents public school teachers, disavowed the protest, and said that SDSM is likely to harm the union’s attempts to negotiate better salaries with the new Government.