The President of North Macedonia, Gordana Siljanovska Davkova , has said that the Macedonian people are ashamed of the fascist chants against Albanians by fans at the basketball match between North Macedonia and Romania over the weekend in the city of Kumanovo.
" Due to our sports illiteracy, which happens to who knows how many times, reactions to the terrible incident at the basketball game in Kumanovo, where some irresponsible fans fired bullets of hatred at our Albanian fellow citizens, rightly do not stop, but in fact, they hit us all, even ourselves, and we are ashamed again ," she wrote on Facebook.
Siljanovska Davkova has said that Macedonia will no longer allow sports arenas to turn into "gladiator fan arenas."
According to the Macedonian president, the first lesson on "how to cheer" is learned at home and then in schools. She said the state must counter the hatred of fans and teach how to cheer. According to her, North Macedonia needs "an alphabet of cheering as a sporting pleasure."
“Pure Macedonia,” “A good Albanian is a dead Albanian,” and “Gas chamber for Albanians” were some of the slogans chanted by the home fans, all of which were linked to Nazi rhetoric of extermination. The chants were made in the presence of the Macedonian Prime Minister and senior state officials.