Ethnic brawls between Macedonians and Albanians took place in several Macedonian cities, including Tetovo, the site of the 2001 armed conflict, local Channel Five said on Saturday citing the Interior Ministry.
Late on Friday three underage Macedonians were attacked by four ethnic Albanians in Skopje. In Tetovo, a 16-year-old girl was beaten up by a group of Albanians. Two brawls also took place in an intercity bus and in Skopje, but the details are yet unknown.
"A number of suspects in those incidents have been detained. We expect to complete all the required legal procedures, file formal charges and hand the cases over to relevant authorities,” Macedonian Interior Minister Gordana Jankuloska was quoted as saying.
According to the Macedonian Interior Ministry about 25 ethnically-motivated brawls, in which 38 people were injured, took place in the country since January 2012, most of them in Tetovo and the capital Skopje. Two Orthodox Christian churches were set on fire in the reported period.
About one-fourth of Macedonia's 2-million population are ethnic Albanians. Relations between Albanians and Macedonians remain tense after the 2001 government offensive to crush ethnic Albanian insurgency in Tetovo, near the border with Kosovo.
