Alarm: Skopje, world's first city for polluted air

The presence of PM10 and PM 2.5 particles, according to the measurement stations, has exceeded the allowed rates, even several decades.

The leaders of Macedonia's capital have started with the implementation of urgent measures for air pollution protection.

Sunday's public transportation takes place free of charge, with the aim of reducing the number of vehicles in circulation. In this context, parking prices have doubled, while work has been cut off at construction sites. Inspectors have been ordered to do strict controls in countries where tire burns and other toxic materials are allegedly made.

Macedonia's Education Ministry has ordered that the second half of the year in schools, due to begin Monday, be postponed by at least two days. But these measures by the opposition and the civil sector are more regarded as populist than measures that can produce effects.

NGOs have called for long-term measures, such as subsidies for changing heating and not only for several hundred families, as well as measures in the construction sector, construction cuts, or non-remitting permits for multistory buildings, which prevent air circulation or other measures. / TCh/