More Ethnic Clashes Feared in Macedonia

The violent scenes seen in the heart of Skopje have sparked a wave of hate-speech on Facebook, with ethnic Albanian and Macedonian hard-liners calling for renewed violence this Saturday.

Eight people were injured on Sunday when rival Macedonian and Albanian protesters scuffled over the controversial construction of a museum being erected on the foundations of a medieval church at the fortress in Skopje.

The fortress lies adjacent to the ethnic Albanian area of the city and many Albanians fear the new museum will be handed over to the Orthodox Church for active use.

“My Macedonian brothers, on Saturday we will have our revenge,” one Facebook group says, adding that it is time for “the final battle to eradicate the Shiptars”. "Shiptar" is a derogatory term for an Albanian.

Another Facebook profile, opened by Albanians opposed to the museum, says that “only a massacred Macedonian is a good caurin". The word "caurin" is a derogatory for a member of the country's Macedonian majority.

Police said they were taking action. Officers had been deployed around the site of the museum.

"We have officially informed Facebook of the existence of these profiles and groups who spread ethnic and religious intolerance and have asked for their closure," police spokesman Ivo Kotevski told Balkan Insight.

Kotevski said that police will also pursue the owners of the IP addresses that host such insults and they have compiled lists of Facebook users who have answered calls to participate in future violent gatherings.

Roberto Belicanec, from the Skopje-based Media Development Center, an NGO, said the display of ethnic hatred on the internet was disappointing.

"While social networks are used in the Arab world to overthrow semi-dictatorships, in Macedonia they provide an outlet for hatred." Belicanec urges the use of swift sanctions against those encouraging violence.

Macedonia suffered a short-lived armed conflict in 2001 between ethnic Albanian insurgents and the security forces. The country escaped all-out ethnic conflict after both sides signed a peace deal in Ohrid granting greater rights to Albanians, who make up about one-quarter of the population.