Skopje, 7 July 2022 (MIA) – Minister of Interior Oliver Spasovski said Thursday the police prevented last night’s incident at the ‘Skanderbeg’ square near the Old Bazaar in Skopje, after one person pointed a gun fired into the air, and several others threw objects at the protesters. Spasovski also presented a photo showing a police officer’s response to the person with a gun and other people. According to Spasovski, the police prevented an incident that could have had much more serious consequences. “You can see that the police, a larger number of police officers, prevented the incident. Watch the videos posted by the media and by us. Here is just what picture in which I can show you the police response on the ground. It should not come to this of course. In order for this not to happen each and every citizen must know that protests must be peaceful,” said Spasovski during a visit to Idrizovo. No one, he added, is allowed to point firearms and put at risk the safety of any citizen in the country. He urged for peaceful protests. “There could have absolutely been much more serious consequences. Therefore, I urge citizens, political entities and all those taking part in the protests to stage peaceful protests. In no case will vandalism and violence give results,” said Spasovski. The Interior Minister stressed that an adequate number of police officers as well as inspectors were deployed. The person with the gun was immediately arrested, said Spasovski adding that there were also two other people there who the police is dealing with at the moment. According to Spasovski, the police detained fifteen people, three of whom minors. “Criminal charges for assaulting an official have been filed against all 15 people, of whom 12 got measures imposed,” said Spasovski. As regards Wednesday’s accusations by the opposition leader, the Interior Minister said so far there has been no report in any police station by Hristijan Mickoski, neither in terms of any threats. “There were moments, I’m talking about some time earlier when he himself asked for an assessment in terms of security. He was granted security until there was a need for it. He can report at any time if there’s such a threat to his life,” Spasovski said. According to him, the person who threw a Molotov at the Parliament building has already been arrested. “Police is taking statements, talks are underway and once we have all details regarding the case, we’ll inform the public,” Spasovski said. According to him, there’s operational knowledge about possible incidents wherever people who go to the protests move or stay. Public Security Bureau director Sasho Tasevski said there was a sufficient number of police officers at the place where the incident took place and they prevented it from escalating. “The police officers responded. The crowd was very violent. Two police officers are injured. There is no announced route of the protesters’ march,” said Tasevski.