Macedonian A1 TV Accuses Police Of Brutality

Mladen Cadikovski, А1's editor-in-chief, said he was attacked by police officers that stormed the TV station building after midnight after a crowd of several hundred people that came to support the TV had dispersed.

"The police started breaking down the doors and beating journalists inside the TV station," he said.

"I was dragged around by the police when I tried to see what was happening. One of the [A1] security guards who came to protect me was also attacked," Cadikovski added.

The TV station said that in the brawl that ensued, several other journalists and A1 crew members were manhandled by police.

Police defended their action. "If there has been any breach of procedure... journalists are free to report the case and our internal controls will determine the truth," police Spokesman Ivo Kotevski told Balkan Insight.

After a tense situation on Thursday night, the situation in front of A1 TV on Friday morning was calm.

The drama erupted on Thursday evening, when the TV, known for its pro-opposition viewpoint, started its main evening news broadcast claiming they were under police siege. The station said it suspected that the centre-right VMRO-DPMNE-led government was trying to shut it down because of its criticism of government policy.

The TV showed footage of police preventing their journalists to leave the building.

The police sealed off the building claiming that they were only assisting the Public Revenue Office in their inspection of six companies that share the same address as the TV. 

Kotevski last night insisted that the TV itself was not under inspection and journalists were free to do their job.

However, tensions boiled over as the evening went on.

Several hundred people gathered in front of the TV station, trying to break through police lines and get in. Several prominent opposition politicians and human rights activists eventually crossed police lines and issued statements of support that were broadcast live from the studio.

"This is the start of fascist totalitarian rule in Macedonia." Gordan Georgiev, vice-president of the biggest opposition party, the Social Democrats, declared in the A1 open studio.

He accused the VMRO DPMNE government, led by Nikola Gruevski, of trying to shut down the station and silence freedom of speech.

At a press conference late last night VMRO DPMNE accused the Social Democrats of inflaming the whole drama to score political points.

"We are disgusted by the actions of the Social Democrats," the VMRO DPMNE spokesman, Ilija Dimovski, said. "They are clearly trying to misuse this event and to stop the legitimate activity of the Public Revenue Office."

Dimovski maintained that A1 journalists had been manipulated by the opposition.

Macedonia’s Journalist’s Association immediately condemned the intrusion. "This scandal should stop. The police should retreat and let the journalists carry out their work," the association's president, Robert Popovski, said.

The EU ambassador in Macedonia, Erwan Fouere urged the police minister, Gordana Jankulovska, to give a full explanation of the events surrounding the raid.

This year's recently published report on Macedonia by the European Commission singled out the unsatisfactory state of freedom of speech in the country.