On Sunday, 16^th March, North Macedonia lost 59 young people who lost their lives in a fire at a nightclub with a disputed operating licence.

The Government of North Macedonia announced that from 18^th March, they will begin field inspections of all entities registered as cabarets or discotheques, nightclubs, after which detailed data will be published. That, however, was not enough for citizens and students who blame corruption for this tragedy.

The link for the table with needed donations that we published in the previous text has been closed due to misuse, reports Sloboden Pečat. Anyone who is able and wishes to donate can contact volunteers through Instagram pages @yesforless.mk and @septembertactical.

Through all the pain and trauma, informal groups of students and citizens have already set to organising for the same reason – things cannot continue like this anymore.

“Everyone to the Plenum!”

The plenum fever that has taken over Serbia has spilled over into neighbouring North Macedonia.

The newly formed group “Student Plenum” is calling on students in North Macedonia to organise with their colleagues and decide together how to fight against the “rotten and corrupt system”.

“The plenum is your voice – fight for justice and change”, this group urges through their Instagram profile, along with recommended reading material – the Blockade Cookbook.

The informal group “Promeni.mk” also says that enough of the silence, advocating for independent and non-partisan protests, and they found inspiration in the current student protests in Serbia.

“Enough of accepting injustice as a ’normal thing’! Macedonia is sinking into corruption, incompetence and hopelessness, and nobody is doing anything about it. The lack of organised protests is appalling – it’s time for citizens to take responsibility themselves! No more waiting for ’someone else’ to do something. We are the ones who will make a difference. Loud, clear, organised – for the Macedonia we deserve!”, writes “Promeni.mk”.

“This is our University”

The situation has intensified at universities as well. After the incident and the assembly held at the university plateau in Skopje, organised by the University Student Parliament of the “St. Cyril and Methodius” University (USS-UKIM), an Independent Student Parliament of the same university was established – NSS-UKIM.

This body was founded by students of the Faculty of Philosophy in Skopje, after they voted no confidence in the leadership of USS-UKIM and distanced themselves from the speeches of the Minister of Education and the Rector of the University during the assembly in Skopje, which you could read about earlier on Mašina. “This is a step towards defending the autonomy of the student voice and truly representing our interests”, members of the new student organisation state in their announcement.

As can be seen in the video shared by the Studentarija page, the president of USS-UKIM, Aleksandar Nikolovski, tried to calm students who were angry about the speech of the Minister of Education, Vesna Janevska. USS-UKIM distanced itself from the minister’s speech after the students’ revolted reactions and apologised, but that may have been the final straw for representative democracy.

Although social networks already mention the Macedonian Ćaci, the University Parliament has collected funds amounting to 415,724 denars at assemblies held on 17^th and 18^th March as aid for those affected by the tragedy in Kočani. However, this did not quell the students’ discontent.

“We call on all student parliaments to follow this example and publicly distance themselves from USS, as well as to vote no confidence in its leadership. It’s time for students to speak for themselves! The USS experiment is over, this is our University!”, the NSS-UKIM proclaims and adds that students cannot have representative bodies controlled by political parties and authorities.

As the NSS further states, students of the “St. Cyril and Methodius” University will organise in a plenum fashion. The Independent Student Parliament is, as they say, horizontally structured and the product of self-organisation of all UKIM students.

Let us also recall how the rebellion against the highest representative bodies of students and their dismissal began in Serbia.

Thousands of people at the assembly in Skopje, journalists detained

Besides them, the group “Koj e sleden?” (Who is next?), an informal group established after the murder of Frosina Kulakova in January 2025, which has organised several protests, is also working on further activities.

This group initiated yesterday’s commemorative gathering at Macedonia Square in Skopje. The assembly began with 16 minutes of silence, and thousands of citizens held phones with lights turned on during the gathering for the victims who lost their lives in the fire at the nightclub in Kočani, expressing condolences and unity.

Banners such as “People suffer while the system stands still”, “Lump in the throat, tears in the eyes, you are not alone”, “Corruption burns, the innocent burn”, “Due to a rotten system, we young people are rotting”, “Record holders in days of mourning”, “All years of silence end with a minute of silence”, could be seen in Skopje, reports the MKD portal.

After the assembly, several local and foreign journalists were taken in for informative talks due to the use of drones for filming during the gathering.

“According to available information, the ban on the use of drones was officially announced before 8 PM, almost two hours after the protest had already begun. Additionally, in the statements of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Civil Aviation Agency, such a ban is not mentioned at all for the city of Skopje. This raises serious questions about the legal basis of the procedure against journalists”, states the announcement of the Association of Journalists of Macedonia (AJM) and the Independent Union of Journalists and Media Workers (SSNM).

Mašina

Click here to subscribe to ESSF newsletters in English and or French.