RFE/RL reporters attacked by protesters
A reporter for RFE/RL’s its Macedonian unit was attacked by a group of protesters inside the country’s parliament building in the capital, Skopje.
Zorana Gadzovska Spasovska was in the parliament when angry protesters, some wearing black masks, rampaged through the building following a controversial decision to appoint Talat Xhaferi, an ethnic Albanian, as speaker of parliament. Her assailant, who hit her and broke her equipment, has been identified as a government employee.
Two other RFE/RL journalists, reporter Frosina Dimeska and cameraman Goran Stefanovic, were in the building’s press room at the time. They were unable to leave because of the crush of protesters outside, who sought to break down the door.
RFE/RL President Thomas Kent has called on authorities to conduct a swift and thorough investigation of the attack “to ensure that violence against journalists is not perpetrated with impunity, and that all members of the press are able to do their jobs in safety.”
The U.S. Embassy in Skopje condemned the violence “in the strongest terms,” and EU foreign-policy chief Federica Mogherini called it “particularly worrying and very sad.”