Kočani, the parents' revolt

The parents of the dozens of children who died in the tragic fire at the “Pulse” disco in Kočani continue to take to the streets in search of justice. The fire, they denounce, is the result of corruption and lack of accountability

With protest marches titled "Belated Reaction", every Saturday with a symbolic start at 12:05, the families of the victims of the fire in Kočani disco demand systemic changes in the country and fair trials for those responsible for the deaths of 62 young people.

For the deadly fire in the disco on the night of the 17 March, the Prosecutor's Office is investigating about 70 people, many of whom are currently in custody.

The families believe that the decades-old corrupt system killed their children and demand that officials be held accountable. They also held a protest in the capital, Skopje, where they marched to several institutions, such as the Prosecutor's Office, the Parliament, and then to the Ministry of Interior.

They demanded answers from Minister of Interiors Pance Toshkovski, why no proceedings were initiated or why several acting officials were not detained, to which he replied that he himself wanted to resign, but did not do so in order not to interrupt the investigation process.

The families argue that the tragedy in Kočani is a consequence of the fact that the state has been led for 30 years by people nominated from political parties, not professionals, driven by corruption and the abuse of positions for personal benefits.

The parents of the deceased point out that now they are learning about the irregularities in the operation of the disco, such as the forged license, lack of adequate fire protection, and violation of several regulations and rules.

Citizens at the marches carry banners reading "The corrupt system killed our children", "Our angels deserve justice", "Stop selective justice", "This is not an accident, this is murder". They say that such protests will continue until the all perpetrators of the tragic event are identified and punished.

"We will continue to remind the leaders of this ‘rotten’ country that we are here and until our last breath we will demand justice for all those who died and were injured on March 16, because we buried our children because of someone's mistakes, because someone was corrupt, because they abused their position for money, for personal benefit. Our children are gone, but justice must be granted", said Julia Zlatkova, a mother at one of the protests in Kočani.

The number of victims rose to 62. After the fire in which 59 people lost their lives, two more young people who were being treated in Lithuania died a month later due to serious injuries.

An ambulance driver who had carried the injured to Skopje 11 times on that fateful night and had been working non-stop for more than 18 hours also died of a heart attack.

Current Kočani mayor Ljupčo Papazov was also detained in the case. He eventually resigned, and for the first time in the city, an acting mayor was elected who does not come from one of the two parties that have been in power so far. Venko Krstevski was chosen, the only councilor elected as an independent candidate.

At the election session itself, Kristina Atanasova Arsova, a councilor from VMRO-DPMNE, the party of the current mayor Papazov, resigned.

She explained that they betrayed the trust of the citizens by not fulfilling their promises to solve the citizens' problems and that they were working in the interest of the local leadership. Her son is also one of the injured in the fire at the Pulse disco.

The disco fire also highlighted the poor state of fire protection, a topic that has been repeatedly raised by the Macedonian media. While the state is buying new vehicles for government officials, firefighters are working with trucks and tankers that are decades old, mostly received as donations.

The Kočani Fire Department employs 16 people, although according to the population of the territory they cover, there should be at least 33. The average age of firefighters is 48 years.

After the tragic event, the second such service in the city, the Volunteer Firefighters' Association of Kočani, received a donation of a fire truck and personal protection and rescue equipment from their colleagues in Germany.

Two new ambulances wewre donated to the Kočani General Hospital, also dealing with old vehicles.

Some media outlets reported that on the fateful night, one of the fire trucks was used in such a way that a firefighter had to be in the driver's seat at all times to apply the brakes because the truck could not have stopped otherwise.

Many events are being held across the country and in Kočani to raise money to help the families of the deceased and over 190 injured, some of whom are still in hospital.

Several football matches, art auctions and similar events have been held. An online campaign called "Support Kočani " has been launched, uniting several organisations, so that individuals and legal entities can donate directly to the accounts of the injured and relatives of the deceased.

For the fire, the Levica Political Party in the Parliament demanded responsibility and the questioning of Minister of Interior Pance Toshkovski, but the ruling majority rejected it with 72 votes out of 120, against support by SDSM and DUI.

Following the "Pulse" case, some civil society organisations in the country have asked the institutions to review and reopen several older, tragic cases with a large number of deaths, such as the fire in the Tetovo hospital where 14 patients burned and traffic accidents of buses of "Besa Trans" and "Durmo Tours", which killed over 60 people.