Macedonian opposition supporters set up a protest camp outside the offices of embattled Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski as thousands of his supporters were expected to turn out for a counter rally on Monday night.
More than 20,000 opposition protesters marched through the capital Skopje on Sunday to demand that Gruevski step down, accusing him of corruption, mass wiretapping and of fomenting ethnic tensions to hang onto power.
Opposition leader Zoran Zaev called on demonstrators to stay on the streets in front of Gruevski's neo-classical government headquarters "until he goes".
In the event, only about 100 people spent the night and remained there throughout Monday around a small stage set up on a lawn in the middle of a boulevard facing his offices.
Police closed off part of the boulevard, causing a traffic jam that prompted local media to urge citizens to avoid the city centre.
A protest camp of around 50 tents and eight awnings has sprung up, decorated with placards left from the protest reading "Resignation!" and "Goodbye Nikola", while music could be heard from nearby loudspeakers.
The small Balkan country is deeply divided by a year-long political crisis after disputed elections in April 2014, and in shock after a bloody clash between police and ethnic Albanian gunmen left 18 dead earlier this month -- the worst violence since the country narrowly avoided civil war after an Albanian uprising in 2001.
With tensions high after Sunday's show of force by the opposition, a rally in support of Gruevski was to be held at 8:00 pm (1800 GMT) Monday in front of the parliament building, two kilometres (1.5 miles) from the opposition protest camp, to avoid possible clashes.
In the afternoon workers were still building a huge stage for the rally, with the motto "Strong Macedonia" emblazoned across it.
Gruevski -- who only months ago seemed to have an unshakeable grip on power -- will hope to gather at least as many of his own supporters despite the resignation last week of two key ministers and the intelligence chief embroiled in the wire-tapping scandal.
Sunday's march called by Zaev's Social Democratic SDSM brought many ethnic Albanians and Turks onto the streets as well as protesters from the majority Macedonian community.
Albanians make up about one quarter of Macedonia's 2.1 million population.
- Protesters vow to hold firm -
Under pressure from the European Union, which Macedonia has applied to join, leaders of the country's four main parties met again Monday afternoon to try to defuse the crisis, but talks hardly got off the ground.
"We have not opened talks on any issue, because we first need to solve certain things," Zaev told reporters after the meeting.
He said the issues included the equal status of all the participants "and guarantees on implementation of everything that would be agreed".
He repeated that his party insisted that an interim government be formed without Gruevski in it.
At the demonstration in front of the prime minister's office, opposition supporter Biljana Smileski, one of the diehards who spent the night there, said she did not expect trouble between rival protesters.
"With Gruevski everything is possible, but I believe that there should be no problem for us to exercise our constitutional right to protest," the 48-year-old told AFP while sipping coffee with friends at a camping table.
"I will stay here until Gruevski steps down," another protester, Sime Kardanovski, 38, said.
In Brussels, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said the Alliance was closely following developments in Macedonia and stressed the necessity of avoiding violence and any escalation of the crisis.
Half of the highly-polarised Macedonian-language media described Sunday's protest march, which passed off peacefully, as a "grandiose" gathering, with pro-government outlets condemning it as a rally of those "who want to destabilise" Macedonia.
Macedonian opposition supporters set up a protest camp outside the offices of embattled Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski as thousands of his supporters were expected to turn out for a counter rally on Monday night.
More than 20,000 opposition protesters marched through the capital Skopje on Sunday to demand that Gruevski step down, accusing him of corruption, mass wiretapping and of fomenting ethnic tensions to hang onto power.
Opposition leader Zoran Zaev called on demonstrators to stay on the streets in front of Gruevski’s neo-classical government headquarters “until he goes”.
In the event, only about 100 people spent the night and remained there throughout Monday around a small stage set up on a lawn in the middle of a boulevard facing his offices.
Police closed off part of the boulevard, causing a traffic jam that prompted local media to urge citizens to avoid the city centre.
A protest camp of around 50 tents and eight awnings has sprung up, decorated with placards left from the protest reading “Resignation!” and “Goodbye Nikola”, while music could be heard from nearby loudspeakers.
The small Balkan country is deeply divided by a year-long political crisis after disputed elections in April 2014, and in shock after a bloody clash between police and ethnic Albanian gunmen left 18 dead earlier this month — the worst violence since the country narrowly avoided civil war after an Albanian uprising in 2001.
With tensions high after Sunday’s show of force by the opposition, a rally in support of Gruevski was to be held at 8:00 pm (1800 GMT) Monday in front of the parliament building, two kilometres (1.5 miles) from the opposition protest camp, to avoid possible clashes.
In the afternoon workers were still building a huge stage for the rally, with the motto “Strong Macedonia” emblazoned across it.
Gruevski — who only months ago seemed to have an unshakeable grip on power — will hope to gather at least as many of his own supporters despite the resignation last week of two key ministers and the intelligence chief embroiled in the wire-tapping scandal.
Sunday’s march called by Zaev’s Social Democratic SDSM brought many ethnic Albanians and Turks onto the streets as well as protesters from the majority Macedonian community.
Albanians make up about one quarter of Macedonia’s 2.1 million population.
– Protesters vow to hold firm –
Under pressure from the European Union, which Macedonia has applied to join, leaders of the country’s four main parties met again Monday afternoon to try to defuse the crisis, but talks hardly got off the ground.
“We have not opened talks on any issue, because we first need to solve certain things,” Zaev told reporters after the meeting.
He said the issues included the equal status of all the participants “and guarantees on implementation of everything that would be agreed”.
He repeated that his party insisted that an interim government be formed without Gruevski in it.
At the demonstration in front of the prime minister’s office, opposition supporter Biljana Smileski, one of the diehards who spent the night there, said she did not expect trouble between rival protesters.
“With Gruevski everything is possible, but I believe that there should be no problem for us to exercise our constitutional right to protest,” the 48-year-old told AFP while sipping coffee with friends at a camping table.
“I will stay here until Gruevski steps down,” another protester, Sime Kardanovski, 38, said.
In Brussels, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said the Alliance was closely following developments in Macedonia and stressed the necessity of avoiding violence and any escalation of the crisis.
Half of the highly-polarised Macedonian-language media described Sunday’s protest march, which passed off peacefully, as a “grandiose” gathering, with pro-government outlets condemning it as a rally of those “who want to destabilise” Macedonia.
