What happened: A young woman, a student at the Iustinianus I Law Faculty, wearing a hijab, was
physically and verbally assaulted by a group of males at Square “Makedonija” in Skopje. The attackers
tried to pull her hijab, calling her “a terrorist”, a “filthy Shkiptar” and saying “go back to Arabia.”
Several citizens confronted the group at the scene, which led its members to flee.
Date, time and location of the incident: 23 February, around 14:00 “Makedonija” square, Skopje
Source of information: The case was reported to the MHC by an acquaintance of the student.
Victim(s) involved: One victim.
Type of crime(s): Endangering the safety (Article 144, CC), Violence (Article 386, CC)
Perpetrator(s): A group of unknown perpetrators.
Brief description of the event with bias indicators: In this incident the bias motive is ethnicity,
nationality or language, and/or religious belief or conviction, while the bias indicators are:
1. Content of the slurs – The victim was a target of insults and threats due to the hijab she was wearing
that the attackers tried to take off from her.
2. The nature of the violence – the incident took place in public.
Status of the case: Unknown.
Response of the local authorities: At the time of writing this report, the MoI had not responded to
the MHC request for public information regarding this incident.
Impact on the victim(s) and the community: This incident calls into question the safety of the
different ethnic and/or religious communities in the country.
