The Social Democratic Union of Macedonia (SDSM) canceled the traditional March 8 march, which was supposed to be held Sunday in Bogdanci, and is set to join the “We Will Not Be Erased” march organized by the Gender Equality Platform, which called for a traditional women’s rights march to be held in Skopje. SDSM will join the citizens, the leader of the opposition SDMS said on Saturday after the Women’s Forum in his party announced a march in Bogdanci earlier.
Filipche reiterated the accusations against the Government previously made by SDSM in connection with the tragic event that took place in Skopje, the death of the mother and child, which was preceded by years of domestic violence.
“This is not just an individual tragedy, this is another tragic proof of the systemic problem of violence against women, of the inadequate protection, of the inadequate response of the institutions, simply the failure of the institutions to deal with this problem. And hence our decision, the traditional march that was supposed to be held tomorrow in Bogdanci is canceled and instead tomorrow we will be present at the protest march organized by civil society organizations, individual activists, initiatives and platforms for gender equality and we will be present here as citizens,” said Filipche.
The opposition leader also said that his party should be together with the citizens to say that “enough is enough when it comes to dead women and children due to the failure of the institutions to react, that the institutions must urgently react to every report, that there must be real protection, swift measures and punishment of the perpetrators.”
The SDSM leader noted that the party was not part of the organizers of Sunday’s protest march, that it was becoming a forum for “an authentic organization of a part of the civil society organizations”, and that the SDSM members and sympathizers were joining as citizens.
