Ethnic Related Crime Rate Growing In Macedonia

Macedonia's Interior Ministry has imposed curfew from 11 p.m. to 05 a.m. in the town of Bitolj, following riots during the two previous nights when 70 shops and cafes, owned by Albanians and Moslems, were ruined or burnt down by Macedonians. The raids were a response to the slaughter of eight Macedonian servicemen, four of whom had lived in Bitolj, by Albanian terrorists on April 28. Ten hours after the funeral, the town was swept by pogroms of Albanian shops. Bitolj, Macedonia's third largest city with a population of 80,000, was inhabited several years ago exclusively by Macedonians but now there are 4,000 Albanians among its residents. Police report that last night one Albanian was killed in the Macedonian capital of Scopje and the Albanian embassy was attacked with gunfire by obscure persons. Ethnic related incidents have been also marked in Veles, Dolcjev and Venic.