Macedonia Party Leaders to Meet again on Monday amid New Protests

Leaders of the four major parties in Macedonia are set to meet Monday in a renewed attempt at solving the political crisis in the country.

The socialist opposition SDSM and its leader Zoran Zaev are demanding that PM Nikola Gruevski resign after a series of anti-government protests and recordings released by the opposition which purport to show evidence of corruption and government interference in many aspects of public life.

Gruevski, on the other hand denies, and accuses Zaev of conspiring with a foreign intelligence service. He turns down any calls to step down, arguing the government was formed according to Macedonians' political will.

But tensions have mounted in the past week with anti-government protests and an attack in Kumanovo, northwestern Macedonia, which earlier in May claimed the lives of eight police officers.

On Sunday, the biggest anti-government demonstration in Macedonia took place in the capital Skopje, and some of the protesters remained in a makeshift camp outside the government building in Skopje's central area.

Zaev was also among those who slept there, but departed for the town of Strumica in the morning where at 9:00 local time he was to attend a court hearing in Strumica over criminal charges of seeking a bribe of EUR 200 000 as the town's mayor.

A Macedonian news website, Independent.mk, informed recently that a video recording showing him while making the arrangements for the bribe was released on YouTube

As many as 30 tents formed a makeshift camp during the night, and a number of protesters (between hundreds and thousands according to different media reports) are determined to remain in the "tent city".

After a new political meeting aimed at easing...