The basketball match with racist calls to Albanians, DUI: Hatred was conveyed in Kumanovo, institutions silent

There during the basketball match between Northern Macedonia and Romania, where, in the presence of top state officials -- including Prime Minister Hristian Mickoski, Kumanovo Chairman Maksim Dimitrievski, Minister of Internal Affairs Panco Toshkovski and Deputy Prime Minister Ivan Stoilkovovic -- were heard anti-Albanian choirs, racist calls and pure language of ethnic hatred against Albanians.

The good Albanian “is the late Albanian, gas chamber for Albanians, clean Macedonia are called on to return us to the dark ages of European history, and which cannot be related, could not be kept silent and could not be tolerated. What is even more disturbing and disgusting is the silence of the organisers, the Federation of Basketball, the MPB, the Kumanovo municipality, the Government, and every representative present in that hate-torn tribunes. There was no institutional response, no moral condemnation, no political distance. Only approval with silence, which is as heavy to us as the Coret” itself.

For us at DUI, these acts are a great alarm for democracy, for coexistence and for the safety of citizens in this country. No one has the right to promote ethnic cleansing at stadiums, and no one has the right to play politically with the feelings of a people who have made a tremendous contribution to the construction of this state. We ask: • Urgent investigation of the incident by MPB and Public Prosecution • Sanctions against organisers, • official response and public distance from the Government and any representatives present, • including the international factor for monitoring the spread of hate speech and institutional nationalism. Everyone needs to know: We will not allow the country to return to the arena of ethnic hatred. We will not allow Albanians to become the target of fascist calls. Neither now nor in the future will we be silent”, the DUI's response said./Periscopi/