Construction workers were busy at the site of the new build in front of the Mavrovka shopping mall in downtown Skopje, which is being built on top of the terrace of a recently burnt down cafe. City authorities visited the site and ordered it to be torn down by Friday, but the workers were still pouring concrete today.

We expect that the place will be demolished by the end of the week, officials from the Cair municipality said.

The brazen violation of the order in plain sight, at one of the busiest streets in Skopje, and the suspicious fire that preceded the built, make this a test case about the extent to which the city can implement its orders against likely politically linked developers.