Even after two months, the public is still suffering from the mystery and awaits the relevant institutions to respond to the question of what exactly happened on 9 and 10th of May in Kumanovo and who is responsible for it.
MOI stated for META that the investigation is still ongoing, and answers to numerous questions, including those about the motives of the group and the circumstances of what happened on 9th of May should be provided by the court.
– The investigation lasts until an indictment is filed and the case is submitted to the court. The investigation is led by the prosecution, and the court shall determine the facts, and what were the motives of the group. We announced suspicions that the group intended to destabilize the country through attacks they were planning. What were the reasons should be revealed by the suspects in the judicial procedure, based on which the court would bring the final decision – says about Deputy Minister of Public Relations at the Ministry of Interior, Ivo Kotevski.
“It is not the same as before the events of 9 and 10th of May. It cannot be the same as what we experienced is not easily acceptable for a person. Now we get nervous with every stronger sound stronger. There is still some discomfort,” say residents of Kumanovo Divo naselje, who we visited two months after the police action for, as informed the Ministry of Interior, neutralizing the terrorist group, which was established in the settlement.
The first impression is that the settlement slowly restores tranquility of everyday life from the shock it suffered two months ago. We found the streets partly empty, probably due to the warm weather and Ramadan fasting. Quite the opposite image from that day after the action, when crowds of people around town are rolling down the narrow streets, among the destroyed houses, from which smoke was still rising. There was not police presence anywhere, neither in the settlement, nor at the passes.
Now, instead of police armored vehicles, on some streets there is construction machinery, trucks and excavators, which are cleaning areas where the houses of the people have been previously, which, because of the great damage, had to be demolished. However, part of them stand with the holes from bullets and shrapnel, without roofs, which burned in the fighting between the police and the terrorist group.
– After the events, we organized as a crisis headquarters to help people. From the beginning, there was an influx of food aid and hygiene products, but this settlement, as you see, needs something more than that because here everything is destroyed – says Shaban Demiri, a resident of the settlement, whom we met beside a building that functions as a kind of headquarters for coordination of humanitarian assistance coming to the settlement.
He says donations are mainly coming from the country, Struga, Debar, Kichevo, Tetovo, Gostivar, Skopje, and sometimes the diaspora.
– I cooperate with all organizations that are present in these areas. Representatives of OSCE, Helsinki Committee, “Human Rights Watch” are coming. A few days ago, there was a team of the United Nations who are interested to help with projects in the neighborhood. Macedonian Red Cross was active and brought humanitarian aid since the first day. We have the support of all, Macedonians, Albanians, the people, regardless of their ethnic and religious affiliation – said Demiri.
According to him and his friend Sefer Seferi, 69 houses were damaged in the fighting two months ago.
About 120 families or 549 residents of the settlement were left without a roof over their head, i.e. were directly affected by the events.