Professor Nestor Oginar, an elderly Macedonian rights activist who is also an American citizen, was brutally arrested by the police yesterday. Oginar was part of a protest held as US army vehicles were driving to the main Skopje square, and insisted on driving under the Macedonia Gate – a symbolic honor reserved for sport heroes.
US army soldiers are in Macedonia as part of a large exercise and held PR events in a number of cities. Many Macedonians, Oginar included, resent the imposed name change and to a large extent blame US foreign policy for forcing Macedonia to accept the name “North Macedonia”. Protesters were shouting “Macedonia, Macedonia”, while the military vehicles were making their way underneath the Gate.
Another protester that was arrested in Maja Trpkovska, the mother of Pino Secondo, who was killed last year and who blames the police of botching the subsequent investigation and allowing the murderer to flee the country.
Following his release, Oginar said that the police in the station where he was held acted professionally, but those during the arrest used unnecessary force.
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