2015 Macedonian protests

2015 Macedonian protests
2015 Macedonian protests
Part of '2015-16 Macedonian political crisis'
Date	4 May — 19 June 2015
Location	Mostly in Skopje, Macedonia, and in some other parts of the country such as Bitola, Kumanovo, Ohrid and Prilep
Caused by	Wiretapping involving Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski; Clues for corruption scandals involving ministers, mayors and other persons; Police brutality;
Goals	Force Prime Minister Gruevski and his cabinet to resign
Resulted in	Several ministers resigned during the protests;; Przino Agreement; Early general elections on 05 June 2016;; New transitional (technical) government with SDSM ministers from 15 October 2015;; Resignation from Nikola Gruevski in January 2016;
Parties
United democratic opposition of Macedonia, opposition supporters and non-government organizations Social Democratic Union of Macedonia; New Social Democratic Party; Liberal Party of Macedonia; Liberal Democratic Party (Republic of Macedonia); National Democratic Revival; Democratic Renewal of Macedonia; Democratic Union (Republic of Macedonia); Party for the Full Emancipation of the Roma of Macedonia; Party for a European Future; Party for Democratic Prosperity; Lëvizja Besa; non governmental organizations; Supported by: Party of European Socialists; Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe Party; Party of the European Left;	Government of Macedonia; (led by VMRO-DPMNE) Macedonian Police; VMRO-DPMNE; Youth Force Union of the VMRO – DPMNE;
Lead figures
	Zoran Zaev ; (opposition leader); Radmila Šekerinska ; Stevo Pendarovski; Tito Petkovski ; Oliver Spasovski; Andrej Žernovski Nikola Gruevski ; (Prime Minister of Macedonia); Saso Mijalkov; Gordana Jankulovska
Number
May 5:; Around 5,000 protesters (in Skopje); May 6:; 15,000 Anti-government demonstrators (in Skopje) May 7:; 10,000 Anti-government demonstrators (in Skopje) May 17:; 70,000-110,000	Unknown number of police officers May 18:; 30,000—70,000 government supporters
Casualties and losses
May 5:; At least 19 protestors injured	May 5:; Between 10—38 policemen injured

In May 2015, protests occurred in Skopje, Republic of Macedonia, against the incumbent Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski and his government. Protests began following charges being brought up against Zoran Zaev, the Social Democratic opposition leader, who responded by alleging that Gruevski had 20,000 Macedonian officials and other figures wiretapped, and covered up the murder of a young man by a police officer in 2011. A protest with up to 2,000 attendees occurred on May 5, seeing clashes between activists and police.

Several ministers, including the interior minister, resigned during the protests. Gruevski himself refused to step down, saying on May 16 that "if I back down it would be a cowardly move. I’ll face down the attacks.”

Protests continued through the month, and a large gathering of anti-government protestors was held in Skopje on May 17. The number of protesters that turned up on Sunday, May 17 is estimated in the tens of thousands (40,000+). Zaev claimed that the number of attendees at the rally on Sunday was more than 100,000 (between 100,000 and 120,000). On May 18, a large pro-government rally occurred of Gruevski's supporters, said to be in the tens of thousands. Estimates put pro-government supporters at around 30,000. On May 19, Gruevski and Zaev met for talks, with several members of the European Parliament also present, in Strasbourg. The negotiations lasted for twelve hours but resulted in no agreements. On his return flight to Macedonia, Gruevski's plane made an emergency landing in Zürich after decompression in the air occurred.

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