Pendarovski calls on ruling party and opposition to meet students’ demands
Skopje, 17 November 2022 (MIA) – President Stevo Pendarovski believes the demands of the students who staged a protest and a march this week demanding better standard, are well-founded. He calls on both the ruling party and the opposition to meet their demands.
“One of the leaders of the latest protests said something correctly - “we wouldn’t like to see politicians among us”. The best way to kill a protest is to paint it politically or party-wise. At this point, I believe both the ruling party and the opposition should find a common ground, we see that both sides have proposals on how to meet the latest series of demands of the students. It is best that they agree in Parliament, instead of letting people protest out in the cold and on the streets,” Pendarovski told TV24 on Thursday.
Even if they are 100-percent organized by any political party, Pendarovski pointed out, what I’m interested in is what kind of demands they have and whether their demands are well-founded.
“From what I see and hear, their demands are well-founded. Let's address that, instead of being embarrassed that they don't have heating or what food they have in the dormitories in 2022,” the President said.
He added that he wouldn’t let his child live in a student dormitory, where he noted that unfortunately, he doesn’t see that things are changing systematically.
As regards the false bomb alerts in the secondary schools, he expressed hope that the competent authorities will resolve the case as soon as possible.
He pointed out that until a senders is identified, it cannot be claimed that it is a matter of a hybrid threat.
“The logic behind that is that due to the war on European soil in Ukraine, the Russian attack, the invasion of Ukraine, that from the Russian side and from entities connected to the Russian state, propaganda of that type, political propaganda, fake news, hybrid threats, blockade ... are happening more frequently since February this year. To me, logic points to that, or my assumption is that maybe someone wants to use it and create additional panic, particularly in a NATO member country that has supported Ukraine from day one. We are talking about some of the threats that come from outside and for which it is difficult to determine exactly who they belong to. We are making guesses, but until we see a specific name and surname, only then can we ask for background, whether it is connected to any group or a country,” said Pendarovski.
