Skopje, 11 May 2025 (MIA) – Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski said Sunday he is ready to visit the town of Kochani and meet with the parents of the victims killed in the March 16 fire in the nightclub Pulse after the parents didn’t accept his invitation for a meeting in the government.

“I have no problem going to Kochani and I’ll do absolutely everything, as I’ve been doing, to help them as much as I can. But I have to say that it is a lie that I’d been invited to go there and have a meeting. Regardless, if this is an invitation, I’ll go to Kochani to meet with them,” he responded speaking to members of the media after overseeing works for the construction of a kindergarten in Indzikovo in Skopje’s Gazi Baba municipality.

The prime minister stressed that he remains at the disposal of the families of the victims and the injured.

“I was in Kochani several times, including on the day of the horror. But I don’t want to talk about it right now, because I think this case shouldn’t be treated from the prism of entertainment,” Mickoski stated accusing the opposition of scoring political points calling them “political rodents” and “necrophiles”. 

In a May 9 written statement, the parents of the Kochani fire victims said they didn’t accept the invitation for a meeting in Skopje at the government on May 13, saying it came late. “The prime minister was invited by all the parents of the killed children to come to Kochani where a meeting will be organized. Since some of the parents aren’t able to travel as a result of the consequences from the March 16 tragedy, we believed the proposal for a meeting in Kochani was reasonable,” said the statement.

The parents and loved ones of the fire victims yesterday held the fifth protest march in Kochani to demand justice. 

MIA file photo