We have not come to break and burn. There somewhere people are gathered for who the foreigner is dearer than the brother. We are here to put an end to this hatred, to lead our country in progress. We are here to say NO to the criminal who wants to lead this country. This was said by Toni Mihajlovski which is part of the Civil Movement for Defense of Macedonia, the organizer of Thursday's rally in which citizens give support to the government and the President Gjorge Ivanov and asked for elections on June 5.
This protest gathered more than 15,000 citizens of several cities in the country. They first gathered near the Macedonian Red Cross, after which they peacefully marched to the headquarters of SDSM. Earlier the crowd were addressed by the members of Civil Movement for Defense of Macedonia, as well as our artists and athletes.
They are against the decision of President Gjorge Ivanov, which pardons the opposition party SDSM leader Zoran Zaev and Zoran Verusevski, both of which suspects in the case "Coup". The crowd sought for the Przino agreement to be fully respected, elections to be hold on June 5 and to allow the people to decide who will run the country.
"Macedonia is the world for us, Macedonia is all we have. We cannot accept people who destroyed Macedonia, people who are struggling to destroy it even more. Such are those people now standing in front of the temple of democracy. They are mercenaries paid by foreign money to destroy Macedonia, to bring it to its knees. We have not let them, and we will not let them", Aleksandar Pandov, a member of Civil Movement for Defense of Macedonia said.
He announced that they will hold the rallies every day.
"We will do this every day. It must be clear that nobody managed to come to power in Macedonia through force. We are all here to express our support to the Government, the President of the Republic of Macedonia, they struggle to maintain democracy in the country. Also we oppose the decision to put equality for those who are stained with crime, with those who worked honestly in the state. These are people who dare to spy and tarnish the country. We will not allow it to happen now, nor in the future", Aleksandar Pandov added.
Aleksandar Pandov, also stressed that they give great support to the security forces and noted that, if necessary, they themselves will make a human shield in front of the state institutions to prevent further demolition.
The crowds were addressed by Bratislav Dimitrov, who said that all should be united for Macedonia.
"I am convinced that we give an example of democratic and civilized behavior. These days here is beating the bravest heart of Macedonia. Let’s be united together, to show how we should work, how we should publicly express our views", Bratislav Dimitrov said.
Aleksandar Dastevski, said that a further demolition of state institutions should not be allowed. He noted that the goal of the opposition is the destabilization of Macedonia and changing the country's name.
"Yesterday they broke the institutions of the system. These are objects that belong to all citizens of Macedonia. The goal that their president said is now coming true, breaking down the system, the state and cooperation with foreign services and in order to change the name of Macedonia. We will fight for our freedom. We have no other country. This is our country. If they want let them move. We will fight to the end and finally on June 5 will show that the people are the strongest and on which side they stand. Macedonia is held hostage by a few people who want to overthrow the state and the name to change, want to tear down everything sacred in Macedonia", Aleksandar Dastevski said.