A year ago the young people in Skopje, mostly students of the faculty of Architecture, were protesting against the government’s plan to build a church on the central square of Skopje. They were attacked violently by the citizens - suspected to be organized by the ruling party (VMRO-DPMNE) - and who publicly claimed to be a “spontaneously gathered group”. The police didn’t react to stop the violence. The paradox was that the young people who had manifested their disagreement with this plan and who were attacked were the ones brought to trial because of disruption of public order and provoking of violence! The case reached international media, and so the judges were obliged to drop the accusations.
To commemorate this event (“the First architectural insurrection” as the same student organization calls it), “The First Archibrigade” organised an open-air exhibition. The student’s architectural plans were attached to the metal barriers placed round the construction site on the central square, where the Government has started various competition projects. The students are demanding the proclamation of an international concurs for a New Detailed Urban Plan of Skopje to replace the Government project for Skopje called “Skopje 2014” which is a bizarre and anachronistic mixture of old styles such as baroque and classicism.
Source: Utrinski Vesnik, 29.03.2010
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