Skopje, 4 January 2024 (MIA) — An employee of the national air navigation service provider M-NAV, together with several other unindentified persons, physically attacked three other M-NAV employees, the Ministry of Interior said in a press release citing a police report filed earlier on Thursday.

"Today, Jan. 4, 2024, around 3:15 pm, a member of the M-NAV staff reported to the Petrovec Police Station that there had been a violation of public order and peace in the building," the release says.

The release adds that an employee identified by the initials B.N., together with several unindentified persons, had physically attacked P.B., E.K. and B.R., also employees of M-NAV.

Police were immediately sent to the premises to investigate and take action to solve the case.

Earlier, Trade Union of Air Traffic Controllers leader Aleksandar Tasevski in a social media post said that air traffic control employees had been attacked in the M-NAV national air navigation service provider's air traffic control facility.

Tasevski wrote that several vehicles had come to the air traffic control facility. People got out, went inside, started to argue, and then attacked air traffic control employees, he said. He noted that the people were not stopped by any of the security guards on duty.

The attack happened after the union leader's press conference earlier on Thursday. He had said that twenty to thirty air traffic controllers and their assistants working for M-NAV would start resigning from their management positions in response to the latest job announcement in this institution.

He also said he had been notified Wednesday by the Department for Violent Crime at the Ministry of Interior that M-NAV directors Fahrudin Hamidi and Fasim Deari reported an email of his because of "feeling of threat to their life security" under Article 144 paragraph two of the Criminal Code.

"I most responsibly claim that the content of this email does not contain anything resembling a threat,"  he told reporters. He said it was misinterpreted deliberately so it could be used against him as union leader and the air controllers who "dared to raise their voices and show they are ready to stand up for the defense and protection of their profession, to stop the clientelism and the hiring of unnecessary and unprofessional employees." mr/