Skopje, 15 September 2025 (MIA) -- Some 200 people live at the Vardarishte illegal landfill and solving this problem requires a thorough, systemic approach, Interior Minister Panche Toshkovski said Monday in response to a reporter's question on whether police would be patroling the area 24 hours a day to deter trespassers following the recent garbage fires.

He said until the people living there were relocated someplace else, the problem would keep repeating.

"Unfortunately, over 200 people live in the Vardarishte illegal landfill. Imagine, in the landfill, 200 people living in the middle of a landfill. It is terrible," Toshkovski said.

He said there were reports that a small number of those people had set the landfill on fire.

"But we cannot limit their right to access the place they call home. We cannot prevent these people from going in and out of this perimeter they have. This problem has accumulated over the years and we cannot solve it overnight," the interior minister said.

He said a systemic solution was required to the problem, which included moving the people to a different location and cleaning the landfill, which was not the responsibility of the Interior Ministry.

"This problem dates back many years," Toshkovski said. "According to information I have, it was certainly there in 2021, '22, '23 and '24 and it is stil here in 2025. 

"We need to find a systemic, thorough, multi-institutional solution and we should focus on it. But we should focus on many things in this country and our government is focusing on them, it is not that we aren't," he said. mr/