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[Reports in the last couple of hours suggest that both
the government of Yugoslavia, with the prospect of the
SNP pulling out of the ruling coalition, and the
government of President Boris Trajkovski in Macedonia,
which appears to have fled for its life, are on the
verge of collapse.
NATO's imperialist meddlng has progressed from
subverting and destroying non-compliant governments to
bringing about the demise of its own puppet regimes. 
The brutal, illegal and dangerous policy of military
interference by NATO in the Balkans over the past six
years, remember, was sold to its domestic constituents
under the guise of bringing peace and stability to the
region.
Instead, it has brought war and destruction. NATO
chiefs and heads of state of NATO nations must be
prosecuted for war crimes. Now.]

Monday June 25 7:15 PM ET 
Anti-Government Protests Erupt in Macedonia By Kole
Casule
SKOPJE (Reuters) - Armed police reservists broke into
Macedonia's parliament on Monday, firing in the air
from a balcony to the cheers of thousands of
demonstrators, as Slav anger erupted over government
handling of an Albanian revolt.
The protests in the Balkan country's capital came as
fighting raged around a west Macedonian town on Monday
even as NATO (news - web sites) helped evacuate ethnic
Albanian guerrillas from a strategic village under a
cease-fire deal.
A heavy exchange of fire erupted in the hills around
the mainly Albanian town of Tetovo just as convoys of
buses left the village of Aracinovo, around 50 km to
the east, in an elaborate operation involving the
United States, France and Italy.
A Macedonian interior ministry official said one
policeman had been killed and five wounded around
Tetovo when guerrillas attacked from several
directions as the convoys withdrew under a
Western-brokered deal to end a three-day army
offensive.
The deal, brokered in frantic shuttle diplomacy by
NATO and European Union (news - web sites) envoys, was
supposed to reduce the threat of fighting spilling
over into civil war.
But the NATO deal appeared to have enraged the
Macedonian population and sparked the violent protests
in Skopje.
As the group of police reservists broke into
parliament, demonstrators vented their fury at the
government, chanting ''Traitors! Traitors!,'' ``Give
us weapons! Give us weapons!创 and 创Death to the
Albanians!创
PARLIAMENT STORMED
At least three reservists fired several volleys of
automatic gunfire into the air from the building's
balcony. Other reservists shot in the air from the
square outside and thousands of people cheered.
When the protest began, President Boris Trajkovski was
holding talks with Macedonian and Albanian party
leaders inside parliament, but they were said to have
left by another exit before the crowd stormed the
building, throwing stones at the windows.
A dozen unarmed protesters were the first inside, one
climbing on top of the entrance and waving a
Macedonian flag.
``Wait a day or two and we磍l bring you victory,创
Interior Minister Ljube Boskovski promised the crowd.
Elsewhere in the capital, Albanian neighborhoods were
reported quiet.
Boskovski earlier told reporters that a cease-fire
begun almost two weeks ago, but torn up by an army
assault on Macedonia over the weekend, was
meaningless.
Photos
Reuters Photo
``Peace will be restored only when we clean up the
state of terrorists. How can we have a cease-fire when
they killed one policeman and wounded three right
above Tetovo?创 he said.
The second of two convoys to pull out of Aracinovo had
deposited the guerrillas and their weapons safely in
rebel-held territory and were returning when their way
was blocked by a crowd of angry Macedonians who threw
stones and stopped them. After several hours the
convoy turned back to try another route.
The army said earlier it was holding its fire but was
ready to ``finish the job创 on Aracinovo if the
agreement on the rebel pullout in return for an end to
a three-day Macedonian army assault on the village
broke down.
NATO OPERATION
The European Union, increasingly impatient at the
failure to achieve a settlement, told Macedonia it
must stop seeking a military victory, resume
negotiations on political reforms and make rapid
progress if it wanted further EU aid.
``There is no military solution to the present
crisis,创 a toughly-worded draft communique by EU
foreign ministers in Luxembourg said, calling for a
resumption of political dialogue with the
``facilitation of the international community.创
NATO agreed last week to start preparations for an
operation to help disarm the guerrillas, but stressed
it would begin only once a peace settlement had been
agreed, fearing the rebels might try to draw the
Alliance into policing demarcation lines.
Rebel commander Hoxha told Reuters by telephone his
men were moving out of Aracinovo. ``By this type of
gesture we show that we are for peace,创 said Hoxha,
who had earlier threatened to attack Skopje and its
nearby airport.
He said NATO would not remain in Aracinovo, ``just
monitors in white clothes and without arms.创
The EU had hoped that Macedonia would achieve
``substantial progress创 by Monday磗 meeting. But
Macedonian Foreign Minister Ilinka Mitreva had little
to tell the ministers in Luxembourg and the EU told
Mitreva of its disappointment with the lack of
progress on reforms to avert civil war.
Mitreva told her EU counterparts that assessment was
``too harsh创 and said Macedonia urgently needed
economic support.
In its draft communique the EU used its strongest
language in three months of intensive diplomatic
efforts to avert civil war in Macedonia, issuing its
first public warning that Macedonia's formal links to
the bloc were in jeopardy.
External Affairs Commissioner Chris Patten would not
say whether the EU was threatening to suspend
Macedonia's Stabilization and Association Agreement
(SAA) but an aide said some 90 million euros ($77.5
million) in various aid projects was now at risk.
($1-1.161 Euro)  


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