Drones have become a political tool of par excellence in Macedonia and the Balkans.
The first registered case of a drone being used for political purposes was in mid October, 2014, at an international football match between the nationals teams of Serbia and Albania. At the match at the Partizan FC stadium, a drone appeared above the game and attached to it was a flag with the map of a “Greater Albania”.
The same type of drone with the same flag appeared in Skopje yesterday at the stadium in Čair , at a football match between rival clubs “Shkupi” and “Vardar”.
In December, 2015, the police detained a boy who had been using a drone to film the student protests in Skopje. After being “interviewed” , the boy was released and all footage from the drone was kept by the police.
In recent years, the many protests held in Skopje outside Parliament and Government were recorded regularly from the air by UAVs (drones).
In 2015, the Government adopted a regulation regarding the conditions under which unmanned aircrafts were to be used in Macedonian airspace.
In Article 12, paragraph 5 it states “unmanned aircrafts can not fly within the radius of 500 metres from facilities such as the Ministry of Defense, the Army of the Republic of Macedonia, the residence of the President, diplomatic missions, high-risk sports games and matches and at large gatherings of people (protests)”.
The Civil Aviation Agency did not respond to the question whether they issued licenses for the use of drones at protests.
