LOCAL PRESS

 

Nikic new head of the Office for Kosovo and Metohija (Novosti)

The director of the government Office for Kosovo and Metohija will be Milenko Nikic, who was the advisor to Aleksandar Vulin while he was the minister without portfolio in charge of Kosovo and Metohija, Novosti has learned. Nikic was also at the post of the advisor to Gracnaica Mayor Branimir Stojanovic. The new government doesn’t have a special ministry for Kosovo and Metohija, and it was decided for all ministers to deal individually with the issue of the province. Nikic should be elected at one of the following government sessions.

 

Serbs to take part in Kosovo elections in five columns (Politika)

Thirty-one election lists – 19 political parties, seven civic initiatives, four coalitions and one independent candidate, will take part in the early parliamentary elections on 8 June. Nine Albanian political subjects, five Serb, six Bosniak, two Turkish, Gorani from the ranks of Ashkalis and Egyptians and three Roma registered to the Central Election Commission (CIK) in Pristina. The CIK member Nenad Rikalo told this to Politika, adding that the Serb political representatives will include the Serb list with 67 candidates, the Movement for Democratic Prosperity led by Slavisa Miric with 26 candidates, Nenad Rasic’s Progressive Democratic Party with 24 candidates, while the Independent Liberal Party and the Social-Democracy, led by Slobodan Petrovic and Sasa Djokic, who are the integral part of the joint list “Srpska” registered lists with minimal number of candidates in order to keep seats in municipal election commissions and commissions at polling stations. Around 130,000 Serbs from Kosovo and Metohija and more than 200,000 displaced persons, but not only those who took refuge in 1999 during the NATO bombardment and before the onslaught of extremist Albanians, but also Serbs who have found shelter in Serbia proper and Montenegro more than half a century ago, will have the right to vote at the upcoming Kosovo parliamentary elections, but they must provide a document that they were born in Kosovo and Metohija and that they had resided in the province.

 

Government abolishes emergency situation (RTS)

At the proposal of the national emergency situations headquarters, the Serbian government abolished the emergency situation. Serbian Interior Minister Nebojsa Stefanovic has said at a meeting of the headquarters that conditions have been met for the national emergency to end, but it will remain in force in two towns and 17 municipalities where the situation is such that we cannot abolish it completely. The emergency situation will stay in force in Sabac, Sremska Mitrovica, and the municipalities of Obrenovac, Ljig, Ub, Lajkovac, Osecina, Paracin, Mionica, Svilajnac, Smederevska Palanka, Sid, Trstenik, Kosjeric, Bajina Basta, Krupanj, Mali Zvornik, Koceljeva and Vladimirci. The bodies of 33 people have been found so far in the areas hit by floods, Stefanovic said, adding that 13 of the victims drowned. All bodies found in the flood-hit areas are being autopsied and the figures apply to the entire country, Stefanovic said at a session of the Emergency Headquarters.

 

Nikolic appeals, Hollande: We must show solidarity (RTS)

Serbian President Tomislav Nikolic has appealed in Paris to the French President François Hollande to have his country help the organization of the international conference for aid to Serbia, B&H and Croatia, following the disastrous floods. We wish to set up an international conference for help to Serbia, as well as B&H and Croatia, Nikolic said. He has pointed that so far 18 countries have extended their help to Serbia. It was assistance in saving lives, but now we need help in rebuilding the country, Nikolic urged. Hollande has underlined that France was truly touched by the misfortune that happened to Serbia and B&H. We can decide quickly on calling for the donors’ conference. At the moment when so many people in Serbia are suffering, we must show our responsibility and solidarity, Holland stated.

 

Kirby: Initiative for a donors’ conference encouraging (Beta/Tanjug)

Serbian President Tomislav Nikolic has informed U.S. Ambassador to Serbia Michael Kirby about the initiative for holding a donors’ conference aimed at helping the countries struck by floods. Kirby assessed the idea as encouraging, especially because of the fact that Serbia wants the conference to be aimed at also helping other countries struck by floods. He expressed sorrow because of the flooding disaster and added that it has been proved that Serbia has many friends who have offered help. He also said that, in the past two years, the Serbian President had contributed a lot to the improvement of Serbia’s relations with countries in the region and all over the world.

 

Vucic: Reconstruction of infrastructure plan in the next ten days (Radio Serbia, by Ranka Pavlovic)

“In the next few weeks, Serbia will issue a national reconstruction plan and we expect the EBRD to support its realization,” said Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic at a joint press conference with EBRD President Suma Chakrabarti. Vucic said it was too early to assess the total damage, but that it was certainly the most extensive one in the Serbian electric power system, EPS alone suffering losses amounting to more than 200 million Euros. The reconstruction of the country will be implemented in four phases – in the fields of the electric power system, traffic infrastructure, houses and other facilities and the boosting of economic growth, which is of key importance. Vucic said there would be problems with the process of supplying coal to the Kolubara thermal power plant as up to million Euros a day are lost in electric power and efforts will be invested to launch the production of up to 25% of electric power. Vucic said that infrastructure reconstruction should start immediately, in the next ten days. The road network has suffered more damage than the railway one and some roads are not to be open for passenger traffic for long, let alone freight traffic. The priority is the reconstruction of houses, especially of those people who have lost them in the floods and the task should be completed in two to three months. The boosting of the economic growth and the restoration of all the business capacities is the fourth priority, he said.

The Prime Minister stressed he expected the EBRD to give support in the reconstruction projects. He warned, however, that although the EU, Russia, the UAE and other countries will send aid, that will constitute only 20%-25% of what is required for the overhaul of the consequences, but said he believed Serbian citizens would manage to do that. Vucic thanked all the donors, specifying that between 17 and 18 million Euros will be in accounts as early as today and that the UAE and the EIB have donated the biggest amounts of money.

EBRD President Suma Chakrabarti said that, after the catastrophic floods, the reconstruction of roads and systems for water supply, food production and electric power distribution should start immediately. He also said that small and medium-sized companies had been considerably struck and damaged in this catastrophe and that some of them were EBRD clients and the EBRD wants to help them. As for agriculture and agro business, crops have been destroyed, fields have been flooded and a lot of cattle have died. The EBRD will send a team to see how it is possible to help this sector, said the Bank president. Commenting on the good cooperation with Serbia, he specified that, since 2001, 175 projects worth 3.5 billion Euros had been realized in Serbia and 24 projects worth 420 million Euros had been realized last year alone. He also announced cooperation with the Serbian government in long-term reforms, which are very important for Serbia, the EBRD and the whole region.

 

REGIONAL PRESS

 

Inzko: Russia rejected PIC statement (Srna)

The High Representative (HR) in B&H Valentin Inzko has stated after the two-day session of the Board of Directors of the Peace Implementation Council (PIC) that the Russian Federation didn’t support the statement that, among other things, calls on changing the political approach in B&H and the agreement on unresolved issues. “I respect the opinion and stands of all PIC members and I am certain that the Russian Federation representatives will explain what is unacceptable for them in the statement,” Inzko told the press in Sarajevo. He said that the PIC political directors called in the statement for changing the political approach in B&H and for resolving issues such as five plus two conditions and goals, the decisions of the Constitutional Court in Mostar, registration of military property and residence. The HR says that the international community has once again confirmed its unequivocal support to the sovereignty and territorial integrity of B&H.

 

Gruevski-Rasmussen: Macedonia’s accession to NATO remains a joint interest (Republika)

Macedonia’s accession to NATO remains a joint interest and strong commitment for the country and the Alliance, Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski and NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen agreed Thursday in Skopje. Gruevski reaffirmed Macedonia’s strong commitment to soon join NATO, which is one of the top priorities of the country’s foreign policy. “I’ve pointed out that Macedonia is the Alliance’s active partner in numerous joint activities and missions, contributing particularly to sharing the common responsibilities with the NATO members. Macedonia has proven to be a reliable NATO partner for the last few years,” Gruevski said at a joint press conference with Rasmussen. Gruevski said he briefed Rasmussen on the Macedonian Government’s commitment to keep on with reforms under the Membership Action Plan (MAP) in favor of further advancing of the country’s political, defense and security performances. “I’ve pinpointed our commitment to long-term contribution to the international peace and security. To that effect Macedonia is ready to resume its contribution in Afghanistan after 2014 in line with the Alliance’s needs and the country’s possibilities,” Gruevski said. “We have also addressed the negotiations on ironing the differences with Greece over the bilateral issue, raised by our southern neighbor 20 years ago,” Gruevski said. Macedonia is rather interested in settling the matter, which is the last obstacle to its NATO membership, he said. Rasmussen on his part highlighted Macedonia’s contribution to the NATO-led mission in Afghanistan and support of KFOR. Macedonia is a respected contributor to the international peace, he stated. “Your security, stability, future is important to us. You are not only close to us geographically, but also in terms of history and culture, so I believe you belong to our family of nations and look forward to see you joining the family in the near future,” Rasmussen stressed. Integration into NATO is a free choice, which however requires reforms, hard decisions and brave leadership, Rasmussen said. “The door to NATO membership remains open, as agreed at the 2008 Alliance’s Summit in Bucharest. You will be invited NATO accession talks as soon as mutually acceptable solution to the name issue is found. I encourage you to keep on with the efforts and aspire to finding a solution. The time is now,” Rasmussen underlined.

 

Deployment of Macedonian Albanians to Syria organized in Elbasan (Sitel/MIA)
The prosecution in the Albanian city of Elbasan has discovered a Mujahidin cell that was deploying Albanians to fight in the war in Syria. The prosecution first launched an investigation on smuggling of weapons into Macedonia, which were stolen from the Elbasan Ethnology Museum and represented part of the Albanian cultural heritage. Macedonian citizens Edip Kurtishi and Minir Osmani were part of persons that were followed. The others, Ermir Bego Rambo, Gerti Pashya, Sazan Hoxha, Artil Methasa, Atur Kora and Erzen Gashi are Albanian citizens. From telephone conversations of this group, it is clear that they are one of the organizers of recruitment of Albanians for the war in Syria. First they would be sent to Turkey, and from there directly to the battlefield. They would fight in the ranks of the right wing of Al Kaida, the Al-Nusra organization.

 

 

INTERNATIONAL PRESS

 

Floods inflict grievous blow on frail Balkan economies (Reuters, by Daria Sito-Sucic and Ivana Sekularac, 21 May 2014)
MAGLAJ, Bosnia/BELGRADE - When the waters receded, hundreds of employees at the paper and pulp factory in the Bosnian town of Maglaj turned up for work. Armed with shovels, they began to clear the mud that caked the Natron Hayat mill, where machinery had sat for days submerged under three meters of water.
The factory was wrecked, and barely a house in the town around it was left untouched by the worst floods to hit the Balkans in living memory.
Maglaj was a picture of destruction, and of the economic toll on a region woefully unfit to foot the bill.
"We all live off this factory, and the sooner production resumes, the sooner the town will return to life," said mill worker Mirza Mahic, shovel in hand.
Two decades after the wars that tore apart Yugoslavia and put much of the region on Western financial life support, Serbia and Bosnia must again look to Europe for the money to recover from days of devastating floods.
In Bosnia alone, forecasts of the damage top 1 billion euros ($1.37 billion). Given the destruction inflicted on agricultural land and the energy network, imports are set to rise, impacting economic growth and inflation. Food prices could soar.
Estimating the damage in Bosnia at 1.3 billion euros, or roughly 10 percent of national output, Raiffeisen Bank said on Tuesday its forecast of 1.5 percent economic growth this year was under pressure.
Already struggling with very high unemployment, lower growth will only make it harder for the countries' populations to find regular work. Bosnia's jobless rate is running at around 40 percent and Serbia's at 25 percent, according to official estimates, with many workers scratching out a basic living in the grey economy.
Bosnia's presidency has asked the central government to request reprogramming of the country's international loans and for commercial banks to adjust loan repayments for Bosnians hit by the flooding. The government says they number in the hundreds of thousands, and that more than 100,000 buildings are unusable.
In Serbia, sandbag barriers largely kept the waters from the country's biggest power plant, Nikola Tesla, but the largest coal mine that supplies it was turned into a lake 60 meters deep in some parts. Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic says the clean-up at the complex will cost more than 100 million euros.
Energy production, already down 40 percent, could be limited for months. "It will take us a year to recover production here and take the water out," Kolubara mine general manager Milenko Grgic told state television.
Envoys from the European Union and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) visit the region this week to see the damage first-hand.
As a candidate for EU membership, Serbia qualifies for the bloc's Solidarity Fund, providing the damage amounts to at least 0.64 percent of gross domestic product (GDP), or around $240 million. Serbia plans a donor conference on Thursday.
"LOST EVERYTHING"
Bosnia, however, is yet to qualify for candidacy due to years of foot-dragging by a political elite still split along ethnic lines. A spokesman for the EU's mission in Bosnia said the bloc's executive arm, the Commission, was urgently looking at how to pull together a support package for the country.
"The flooding destroyed not only the houses and businesses but also the infrastructure, inflicting huge damage to roads, bridges, railway tracks and waterworks, which will need major investment," said Aleksa Milojevic, director of the Economic Institute in the flood-hit town of Bijeljina in eastern Bosnia.
Milojevic said the agriculture and cattle stock in Bosnia's northern Semberija region, the country's granary, was completely destroyed because of the failure of authorities to react quickly to warnings of the impending floods.
Bosnia's central government will discuss the impact with the International Monetary Fund, which begins a 10-day review of a standby loan deal on Wednesday. The deal is already frozen over the failure of governments in the country's two autonomous republics to agree on economic policies.
"The floods will have significant implications for the budgets, both on spending and revenue sides," the Fund's envoy to Bosnia, Ruben Atoyan, told Reuters.
Serbia, too, is due to begin talks soon on a new precautionary loan deal with the IMF. The Washington-based lender is looking for deep spending cuts but the floods may have ruined the best-laid plans of Finance Minister Lazar Krstic.
In Serbia, agriculture accounts for roughly 12 percent of GDP and is valued at $5 billion. The sector accounts for 25 percent of total exports. Fortunately, Serbia's breadbasket, the northern Vojvodina region, was spared the worst of the flooding. But the sector did not escape completely.
"If 10 percent of agricultural production was affected it means that the damage could amount to $500 million," said Milan Prostran, former head of the agriculture department at Serbia's Chamber of Commerce.
Small farmers in both countries were hit hardest.
"We all lived off raspberries, and now it's all gone," said Elvir Cizmic from the Zeljezno Polje region in central Bosnia, where landslides left over 5,000 people homeless and destroyed raspberry fields.
"We had an annual output of 3 million markmarka ($2.1 million) from raspberries," Cizmic said. "I can't believe that in one hour I lost everything I had worked for my whole life."

Mine explodes in Bosnia as floods clear-up begins (Global Post, 22 May 2014)
A landmine dislodged by devastating floods in the Balkans exploded in Bosnia, officials said Wednesday, hurting no one but highlighting the dangers of a huge clean-up operation as governments began counting the costs.
The device, one of an estimated 120,000 mines left over from the 1990s Yugoslav wars, went off on late on Tuesday in the Brcko district of northern Bosnia, the national Mine Action Centre (MAC) said.
A fridge containing nine explosive devices was also found in a flooded garden, it said. Other dangerous finds included a rocket launcher and a large plastic bin full of bombs and ammunition, also thought to date from the 1992-95 war.
"Some mines are made of plastic and they float like plastic plates," said Fikret Smajis from the MAC. "But even those made of iron ... can be easily washed away."
Water from the worst floods in more than a century, which have killed 49 people and caused the evacuation of almost 150,000 people in Serbia, Bosnia and Croatia, was meanwhile receding in some areas.
But the situation remained tense in the Serbian capital Belgrade and in northeast Bosnia in the wake of days of torrential rain in southeast Europe last week that caused the river Sava and its tributaries to burst their banks.
"The river Sava is still threatening," said Blaz Zuparic, an official in the Bosnian town of Orasje pinning its hopes on a six-kilometre (four-mile) wall of sandbags.
"The damage is so huge that the region will take more than 10 years to recover," he said.
"Only God can help us to hold on."
In Belgrade, where the Sava flows into the Danube, volunteers have been working around the clock to erect a wall of sandbags 12 kilometres (seven miles) long.
"We are expecting a peak this Wednesday, and again on Friday. If that passes we will be able to say that we have protected Belgrade," mayor Sinisa Mali said.
- Unbearable stench -
More than 1.6 million people in the region have been affected. In Bosnia, a quarter of the 3.8 million population is without safe drinking water.
Vast tracts of farmland are still under water, large areas are without power and many towns and villages remain deluged and difficult to access. The death toll may yet rise as more bodies are found.
Authorities have warned of a risk of epidemics as drowned farm animals rot, and efforts by health experts and the army to recover the bloated carcasses have been hampered.
"We have to act quickly in order to avoid an even more serious catastrophe, that of infectious diseases," Serbian Health Minister Zlatibor Loncar said.
Serbian health officials were also spraying against mosquitoes, according to the Public Health Institute.
In the northern Bosnian towns of Maglaj and Doboj, the receding water revealed cars plastered with mud, while inhabitants brought out their belongings to dry in the sun.
Volunteers cleaning the streets wore masks as the "stench is unbearable," one of them said. On every street corner, there is a sign saying: "Keep masks on".
Plastic bags were hanging in trees 10 metres (30 feet) above the ground, showing how high the water level had risen.
In Croatia meanwhile, the agriculture ministry also appealed to people to take in and look after the "large number" of household pets separated from their owners by the floods.
- Counting the cost -
Preliminary estimates in Serbia alone indicate that the cost for cleaning up will far exceed 0.64 percent of the country's total economic output, the level at which a country can request EU aid.
Serbia's Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic said this week that the bill could be as high as one billion euros ($1.4 billion), with bridges and 3,500 kilometres (2,175 miles) of roads damaged.
Nineteen European Union countries have offered assistance so far, providing close to 400 relief workers, while the World Health Organization was sending medical supplies and a sanitation expert.
Kristalina Georgieva, EU commissioner for humanitarian aid and crisis response, said in Belgrade on Tuesday that the bloc would "immediately" make funding available.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said in a statement that people "urgently need drinking water, food, tents, and medical supplies" and that the UN "stands ready to mobilize further humanitarian support if needed".
Celebrities such as Serbian tennis star Novak Djokovic and Manchester City captain Vincent Company have made donations, while musicians James Blunt and Billy Idol made appeals for help.

The Importance of Helping Serbia (Huffington Post, 22 May 2014)
You may be aware that Serbia and the other Balkan countries are experiencing devastating flooding right now.
It's the worst flooding the area has experienced in over 120 years. There's massive destruction of streets, buildings and homes. The death toll is rising. Over 25,000 people have been evacuated from their homes, most of which have been destroyed. Those families are in desperate need of food, water, clothes, blankets, medication, or other necessities.
It's also possible that you had no clue anything terrible was happening in Serbia. It's even possible you don't know where Serbia is (no, it's not Siberia, the really cold area in Northern Russia; Serbia is in Southeastern Europe). To be honest, if Serbia didn't mean so much to me, I probably wouldn't have paid much attention either.
Here's the thing: I'm not Serbian. Nor do I live in Serbia. So why in the world do I care so much about Serbia?
I first traveled to Belgrade, Serbia in 2012. Then again in 2013. And again in 2014, just a couple months ago. I've written about Serbia here on Huffington Post. I talked about Serbia and the friends I made there in my TEDx talk. I even fell in love in Serbia. So you might say I fell in love with Serbia.
There are plenty of places in the world that need our help. And we hear about devastation daily.
So why should we help Serbia?
For those of us lucky enough to travel, there are certain places that touch our hearts in inexplicable ways. Sometimes it's the people. Sometimes it's the nature. Sometimes it's the circumstances upon which we've stumbled onto the place. Most likely, it's the combination of all of these and more.
Even if we can't pinpoint exactly how or why these places touch us so, we can't shake them. They have a pull on us. Our eyes will forever twinkle when we talk about them. We become advocates for these places that illogically and unexpectedly barged into our lives. We become champions for these places that most people will never experience, for reasons that most people will never understand.
We assume a heavy responsibility when this happens. Whether we want to accept it or not, we're forever indebted to these places. When this happens, it becomes our responsibility -- as the champions of certain places -- to raise awareness and create calls to action to help these places when they're in need. As travelers, we need to stand up and represent the locations that have given us the life-altering experiences that have shaped who we are and how we see the world.
Serbia is that place for me. And today, Serbia is desperately in need.
If people like us don't stand up for the places that touched them...who will? Local people will. Neighbors will. Expat and immigrant families living abroad probably will. But Serbia is not a rich country. A place like Serbia doesn't have nearly as robust a support system as the US or other more developed countries. It needs help from elsewhere. It needs our help.
In my article Things I Learned Wandering Around Europe for 7 Months, I said:
33. People with the least are often the most giving:
The average income in Serbia is less than $10,000/year, yet I had to beg to pay for anything when with my Serbian friends.
I see this as my chance to stand up, represent, and give back. To give back to a place that has already given me so much.
The importance of helping Serbia
It's important to help Serbia, but not merely just to help Serbia. We help Serbia because in doing so, we're making a much grander statement to the world. A statement of appreciation for the places that shape us.
The most soulful of travelers know that traveling merely to take experiences is not the point. The point is to give as much as you take, when you can. Sometimes the currency exchanged is a life lesson. Sometimes it's an act of kindness. Sometimes it's friendship and sometimes it's love. And sometimes, it's physical currency.
The importance of helping Serbia is the importance of helping all places that touch us. It's the importance of remembering, at the end of the day, we're all on the same team. It's the importance of recognizing that by paying homage to the places that impact us, we enable the cycle of giving and receiving to continue. And by doing so, we keep travel holy, meaningful, and as magical as it was the day we stumbled upon it.
If a place has ever touched you the way Serbia has touched me, I think you'll understand the importance of helping Serbia. Of course, I urge you to help Serbia and the other Balkan countries if you can. At the very least, please share this article to create awareness. And even if you don't do that, please remember to stand up and champion for the places that shaped you in your journey.

Macedonian Police Action in Ethnic Riots Queried (BIRN, by Sinisa Jakov Marusic, 23 May 2014)
As police quell ethnic rioting in the Skopje suburb of Gjorce Petrov, some rights groups have accused them of using excessive force to restore order.
After two days of violent ethnic protests in the Skopje suburb of Gjorce Petrov, folllowing the murder of a teen by a thief, the situation is now tense but calm.
Police patrolling the municipality said they detained several dozen protestors during the riots on Monday and Tuesday and filed criminal charges against five.
Police have charged the five with preventing officers from carrying out their  duties. If found guilty, they face three months to three years in jail.
As traffic in the area returns to normal, the authorities say they are watching closely for any renewed protests.
Civil rights groups meanwhile accused the police of using excessive force to quell trouble, and of preventing the media from reporting on what was going on.
The riots started on Monday following the killing of Angel Petkovski, a recent high school graduate, by an ethnic Albanian who stole his bicycle.
After the victim and his father gave chase, Petkovski was stabbed to death on catching the thief. Police said the caught the suspect, named as Naser E, shortly afterwards.
After the name of the suspect was released - indicating that he was of ethnic Albanian origin - demonstrations erupted in Gjorce Petrov, which later turned violent.
The lawyer for the suspect told Albanian-language media on Wednesday that his client acted in self-defence after the victim and his father attacked him.
“He told me he was attacked by the victim and his father. He also told me that the knife belonged to the victim,” Rubin Dvojakov was cited as saying.
Since Monday the municipality has practically been under siege. Police on several occasions prevented angry groups of Macedonian protestors from crossing the Vardar River to the nearby Albanian-dominated settlements of Nerezi and Saraj.
In the clashes in Gjorce Petrov, several establishments believed to be owned by Albanians as well as cars and other property were attacked and destroyed.
CIVIL-Center for Freedom, a prominent NGO based in Skopje, urged people “to refrain from ethnic tensions and leave the institutions do their job according to the law".
However, the head of CIVIL, Xhabir Deralla, accused the police of using "excessive force" to arrest demonstrators and of preventing the media from reporting what really happened.
"We condemn the excessive use of force used against the protestors during their detention," Deralla said.
The police should have intervened earlier to prevent violent groups from vandalizing property, as social networks had clearly warned that such things would happen, he said.
CIVIL, as well as well as the Journalists' Association of Macedonia, ZNM, also condemned the police conduct against reporters from NOVA TV, Fokus and Radio Free Europe.
The reporters said the police seized their equipment and erased their video and photo materials, documenting the events.
"We strongly condemn the improper and brutal conduct of police officials... This represents an attack against the freedom of expression and of media," CIVIL said in a statement.
The ZNM said the police action violated article 16 of the constitution that prohibits censorship and guarantees freedom of information.
Police on Thursday expressly rejected the journalists' complaints, saying they had never confiscated or erased any recorded video material and photos.
Ethnic riots are not new in the country in which a quarter of the 2.1 million population are ethnic Albanians.
In 2001, armed conflict erupted between Macedonian security forces and ethnic Albanian insurgents, which ended with the signing of a peace deal that granted greater rights for the Albanians.

Bosnia-Herzegovina Protests a Response To Post-War Corruption, Impoverishment (insurancenewsnet.com, by Peter Lippman, 22 May 2014)
For 18 post-war years, Bosnia-Herzegovina has progressively sunk into economic wreckage within the framework of the "Dayton straitjacket" that has encouraged pervasive corruption and the enrichment of an ethno-nationalist elite. After several months of hunger strikes and small demonstrations, workers announced another protest on Feb. 5.
Proquest LLC
For 18 post-war years, Bosnia-Herzegovina has progressively sunk into economic wreckage within the framework of the "Dayton straitjacket" that has encouraged pervasive corruption and the enrichment of an ethno-nationalist elite. With massive unemployment, paltry pensions, a high cost of living, and chaos in government, one might well ask why it took so long for February's turbulent street protests to erupt.
And now, after the torching of several government buildings and the resignation of a number of officials, a more urgent question is how to transform and channel the anger expressed on the street into concrete social change.
The demonstrations began in the northeast industrial city of Tuzla as a protest against a standard postwar pattern of economic devolution: managers run state-owned industries into the ground, then they and their cronies purchase them on the cheap, sell offvaluable assets, declare bankruptcy, and lay off workers. This pattern was repeated in the Tuzla region with several formerly thriving factories. After several months of hunger strikes and small demonstrations, workers announced another protest on Feb. 5.
On that occasion, dissatisfied students and other young people joined the workers, multiplying their numbers. Within a day, violence between demonstrators and police erupted and, at the end of the week, protesters had torched Tuzla canton's government building and the municipal building as well. By that time the number of demonstrators in Tuzla had grown from a few thousand to some ten thousand.
The unrest was quick to spread throughout the Federation of Bosnia-Herzegovina, one of Bosnia's two entities (together with the Serb-controlled Republika Srpska, or RS). The first demonstration in solidarity with Tuzla-and in protest of the same difficult conditions that exist throughout the country-took place in Sarajevo, then spread quickly to such other cities such as Zenica, Mostar, Bugojno, Brcko, and Bihac, and ultimately even to smaller, peripheral towns such as Srebrenik and Kalesija.
While the demonstrations in Sarajevo never reached the size of those in Tuzla, similar violence took place in the first days, as protesters torched the state-level presidency building and the Sarajevo canton government building. Torchings followed in Zenica and Mostar, where demonstrators not only set several cantonal and municipal buildings on fire, but also targeted the headquarters of the SDA and the HDZ, respectively the offices of the Muslim and Croat nationalist parties in power in that divided city.
For a few days popular anger thus brought street unrest out of control throughout the Federation, primarily in localities where the Muslim population was predominant-although Croats have participated to some extent in Mostar. By the first weekend, however, the street fighting was over and demonstrators themselves were cleaning up the broken glass and rubble.
More peaceful demonstrations continued, however, and for the first time since the war, ordinary people managed to get the attention of the politician-profiteers who for so long had been plundering their country. Now the recriminations and spin began.
It is notable that during this period there was virtually no protest activity recorded in the RS; a solidarity demonstration of several hundred was held in the RS capital, Banja Luka, and a smaller protest took place in nearby Prijedor. But the autocratic president of that entity, Milorad Dodik, was quick to warn that the protests in the Federation were part of a "plot to destabilize the RS" and that there was a serious threat of invasion across entity lines. Representative Aleksandra Pandurevic from the SDS, a Serb nationalist party, called for the arrest of demonstrators who had blocked the parliament building in Sarajevo, asserting that local police agencies in that city were guilty of collaborating with the demonstrators in "holding RS representatives hostage."
Meanwhile entrenched politicians in the Federation were voicing similarly opportunistic and spurious conspiracy theories. One of the SDA's high functionaries asserted that the violence in Sarajevo had been instigated by "football fans" who had infiltrated from neighboring East Sarajevo, a Serb-controlled area. In Mostar, Croat nationalist politicians characterized the unrest there as the result of Bosniak (Bosnian Muslim) plans to overthrow Croat leadership.
However, the widespread protests were in fact notable for consistently targeting Bosnia's corrupt leadership rather than harking back to worn-out tales of ethnic enmity. This time protesters, regardless of ethnicity, were uniting around what one might go so far as to call class issues. While politicians were, practically in unison, calling those who committed violence "hooligans," the demonstrators were likewise unanimously calling for the dismissal of corrupt politicians whom they termed a "band of thieves."
Response among ordinary people to the unrest was fairly united. Especially in the Federation, support for the demonstrations was nearly unanimous. At the same time, the violence in the streets and the sight and smell of burning buildings terrified many-especially those with any memory of the war two decades ago.
Regardless of their overall support for the protests, nearly everyone condemned the violence. But it was difficult to disagree with the point that the unrest was the only thing since the war that had actually caused politicians to pay attention to the concerns of ordinary people. As it happened, within the first 10 days or so of the protests, the entire governments of Sarajevo, Tuzla, Zenica, and Unsko-Sanski (Bihac) cantons resigned. The prime minister of that canton, Hamdija Lipovaca, long under fire for corruption, temporarily fled the country.
By the second week of demonstrations it was obvious that the spontaneous events needed more formal expression, and activists in at least a half-dozen cities formed citizen assemblies that they called plenums. The plenums, notably in Tuzla, Sarajevo, Bihac, Mostar and Zenica, were open to all who could take the time to participate. In Sarajevo and Tuzla, initially as many as a thousand came to tell their stories of frustration, impoverishment, anger and hope. The very opportunity to speak one's personal story and be heard was significant to many participants.
Some respected independent intellectuals helped give form to the plenums' process of developing demands. Representatives of the plenums traveled among participating cities and shared their experiences with each other. Within days the plenums had drawn up lists of demands that they were presenting to their respective canton governments.
Early on, these demands were developed in several categories. One dealt with rights of the protesters, calling for canton governments to ensure their right to protest peacefully, for the release of randomly arrested protesters, and for an impartial investigation into the violence on both sides. Another pertained to the responsibilities of political authorities, calling on them to quickly create caretaker governments composed of "non-partisan, non-corrupt experts." A third category of demands dealt with corruption and other fundamental causes of the unrest, calling for recognition of the "seniority and secure health insurance of the workers"; confiscation of illegally obtained property; annulment of privatization agreements (referring, for example, to Tuzla's bankrupt factories); and return of the factories to the workers so that production could be resumed.
An additional, crucial category of demands pertained to the inordinate privilege that Bosnia's legislators at municipal, canton and state levels had granted themselves over the years, with regular increases in salary even while per capita income was stagnating or falling. Plenum demands in this realm included the call for equalizing pay of government and ordinary workers; various caps were mentioned, such as limiting the pay of a politician to three times the average of a worker. Additional payouts to politicians for membership on subcommittees and task forces, as well as fat budgets for mobile phones, lodgings away from home, family visits and official cars also were targeted. One prominent benefit cited was what Bosnians call the "white bread" payment, equivalent to the "golden parachute," that grants retiring politicians a year's pay after they leave office.
As the plenums got under way, local governments met with representatives of these assemblies to discuss their demands. The "white bread" cancellation demand was quickly accepted in Tuzla and several other cantons; other demands became the object of desultory negotiations with varying results. The mayor of Bugojno accepted all demands of that city's demonstrators. The Sarajevo canton parliament consented to a review of payments and benefits of public officials and for an audit of the privatization of all state companies. The Unsko-Sanski canton parliament accepted all 13 demands of a group of activists calling itself "Bosnian Spring."
By mid-March participation both in street demonstrations and attendance at the plenums had dwindled to the point where some commentators were stating that the wind was gone from the movement's sails. But the unrest had stirred up the country and the dust has not settled. It is worth remembering that after last summer's short but turbulent demonstrations regarding the standardized identification number (see Oct./Nov. 2013 Washington Report, p. 34), people commented pessimistically that nothing had been achieved. Grassroots uprisings are episodic; it is quite possible that they will become more frequent and build in intensity with each episode.
As one demonstrator said, "If it is not clear to them now that they must listen to the voice of the people, everything that happened on Feb. 7 will look like a picnic compared to what happens when that anger explodes again."