Several hundred Albanian protesters gathered in Skopje today to demand that the bar exam is taken in the Albanian language. The issue was elevated by the opposition DUI party as their key issue to be used against their political rival VLEN, whose leaders met with Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski today.

During the protest, DUI officials joined the protesters, as did supporters from Kosovo, and chants UCK could be heard in the city – UCK is the Kosovo paramilitary organization that started the 2001 civil war in Macedonia. The protest ended with a fistfight between some of the participants in front of the Justice Ministry – the reason for the incident was not made clear.

Following the meeting between Mickoski and VLEN leaders Izet Mexhiti and Bilal Kasami, the Government informed that they discussed about “joint, wise and dignified ways to reach solutions that can mean progress, mutual trust and joint move forward to the future. The interlocutors agreed that education and knowledge should be the basis of every modern and successful state, and therefore the institutions are actively working to find solutions that are in line with the Constitution and the Law on the use of languages, to ensure legal safety and functionality”.