Greek authorities in the town of Lerin (Florina) stopped a band from performing in Macedonian, informed local activist Pavle Voskopulos Filipov. The incident happened yesterday during a local holiday, when the Banda Entopica group started performing the popular Eleno Kerko song in Macedonian.

Greek authorities suppress performances in Macedonian, and would, at best, tolerate such concerts with the music, but without the lyrics.

According to Filipov, the band was invited to perform, and was apparently presumed that they will not violate these unwritten rules as the band members are not from the areas with a large, suppressed Macedonian minority. But when the band started singing in the “forbidden language”, representatives of the local authorities demanded that they stop. According to Filipov, the local mayor was rebuked by the participants in the concert for his intervention.