What happened: After the fi rst half of the game, when the second referee called a technical foul, all
of the players and the assistant coach of BC Shkupi entered the court and wanted to assault the
referee. The delegate of the Macedonian Basketball Federation terminated the game, and requested
for Police offi cers to safely escort the referees in the locker rooms. During the incident, the players
of Shkupi were throwing plastic bottles towards the audience. After the incident, all members of
BC Shkupi were escorted to Skopje. However, another media reports that the Police, during the
intervention injured two basketball players and one other Albanian boy. According to this media, over
200 fans of BC Feni expressed their anger by nationalistic and racial hate.
Date, time and location of the incident: June 9, 17:00 hrs, Kavadarci.
Source of information: The electronic media Sport365 and Zurnal.
Victim(s) involved: One Referee, possible victims among the players of Shkupi and their fans (by use
of Police force).
Type of the crime(s): Violence (Art.386 CCRM).
Perpetrator(s): Unknown number of supporters of BC Shkupi.
Brief description of incident with bias indicators: In this incident that occurred during a sports
match, the bias motive is the ethnic origin, citizenship or language, and the bias indicators are:
1. Difference in ethnic background – the supporters and most of the players of BC Shkupi are Albanians,
while the players and fans of BC Feni Industry are predominately Macedonians;
2. Timing – the incident occurred after a basketball match between clubs with supporters / fans from
different ethnic background, after a change in minority presence in the area (Albanian players and
supporters in neighbourhood populated predominately by Macedonians);
3. Nature of violence – the incident was carried out in public;
4. Lack of other motives.
Status of the case: under investigation.
Response of local authorities: Answering upon a Request for information of public character, the
Ministry of Interior Affairs (MOI) answered that PS GJ Kavadarci contacted PS GJ Bit Pazar and asked
to call the perpetrators and to issue misdemeanor charges. However, there is no information on
whether the suspects were found or misdemeanor charges passed.
Impact on the victim(s) and the community: This incident puts into question the ethnic coexistence
between the two major communities in the country and the safety of people present at sports matches.
