What happened: Police forces had to intervene to prevent interethnic fight in the village Krushopek
near Skopje after an official meeting between two local football club supporters. A group of
Macedonian minors damaged vehicles, stoned houses and insulted people that were passing by.
According to police sources (and published by media), this was followed by the attempt of a group
of 30 Albanians from Krushopek to go into Gjorce Petrov. The Police intervened in time to prevent a
larger incident.
Date, time and location of the incident: January 31, in the village of Krushopek, Skopje.
Source of information: The regional media Almakos (alb.) and Telegraf (mk.).
Victim(s) involved: Except the material damage, there were no victims of physical harm in this
incident. People from the local community were insulted.
Type of the crime(s): Damaging of other’s property (Art. 243 CCRM), Violence (Art. 386), Endangerment
of safety (Art. 144), and Incitement of hate, discord and intolerance on national, racial religious or
other discriminatory ground (Art. 319).
Perpetrator(s): A group of twenty juveniles from Skopje (Macedonians).
Brief description of incident with bias indicators: In this incident, the bias motive is the ethnic origin,
citizenship or language, and the bias indicators are:
1. Victim perception – The fact that the victims of the crime organized afterwards presumably to
retaliate indicates to the victim perception that the criminal acts wеre motivated by bias, as well as
the fact that the group associated with the victim (football supporters club) was engaged in activities
promoting its culture prior to the incident.
2. Differences between perpetrator and victim on ethnic grounds.
3. Location and timing – The incident occurred in a village with inhabited predominantly by members
of the Albanian community in the country, after an event organized by Macedonian and Albanian
football supporter clubs.
4. Nature of violence – The incident was carried out in public.
Status of the case: Police apprehended the perpetrators, criminal charges pressed.
Response of local authorities: The police reacted immediately and prevented escalation of the
violence. However, only four perpetrators were charged for only the criminal act of Violence, and
no charges were filed for the acts of Incitement of hate, discord and intolerance on national, racial
religious or other discriminatory ground, Endangerment of safety or Damaging of other’s property.
Impact on the victim(s) and the community: This type of incidents brings into question the general
political situation in the country and the cohabitation between the Macedonians, on one side and
the Albanians as the two largest ethnic communities.
