PoInaku places white chairs outside Municipality of Bitola, says city ‘waits’ 35 years

An independent civic group called PoInaku staged a guerrilla protest this morning in front of the Municipality of Bitola, placing white chairs tagged with the names of projects it says were repeatedly promised but never completed. The action took place at 07:00 ahead of a municipal council meeting on 13 November 2026 to discuss the municipality’s development programme for 2027–2029.

Activists say promises were postponed year after year

Organizers affixed papers naming a list of long‑promised initiatives to the chairs — an indoor pool, a sports complex, a "City of Youth", water supply for Bistrica, kindergartens, new boulevards, a new school in Bukovski Livadi, a new Fire Station and multi‑storey parking garages — and hung a banner reading "Bitola waits..." above them.

"These are promises Bitola has been waiting for 35 years. Bitola has waited 35 years for a better life. An indoor pool, a new sports complex, proper streets, clean air, a green Bitola have been promised. In the 21st century we do not have functional public transport, we do not have multi‑storey parking garages, streets without potholes, kindergartens, new schools. Bitola has been deceived for 35 years. We are doing this ahead of the session where the development programme is adopted, which is literally a push‑and‑shove. Every year projects are pushed to the next. We haven't seen a capital project for years. We react this way because currently the authorities have an absolute majority at the local and central level and ignore citizens' demands. This was also shown by the failure to convene an extraordinary session on the most burning issue for Bitola residents, 'Alta Bank'," said Gabriela Ilievska of PoInaku.

Participants said that near the end of the action they noticed officers from the Ministry of Interior arriving. "Whether they were called by someone or responded on their own, we do not know," PoInaku representatives said.

The Municipality of Bitola responded that results are not achieved by placing chairs and that the city is being built through continuous work, pointing to projects completed and under way. The statement said that while chairs can be set up in minutes, building the city happens through day‑to‑day work and noted a recent public report on works completed over the past year.

Municipal officials listed progress and planned interventions: the kindergarten "Pchelichka" is already operating; the kindergarten near Primary School "St. Clement of Ohrid" has been completed; work is intense on the facility near the barracks; reconstruction of the school in Bukovski Livadi is in progress; the development programme foresees reconstruction of the kindergarten "Rosica" and reconstruction of Primary School "Dame Gruev". A new Fire Station is under construction. At the entrance to the city from the direction of Prilep, works include underground infrastructure, carriageways, sidewalks and bicycle lanes; interventions have also been carried out at the entrance from Ohrid, near Dovledzhik street.

On sports infrastructure, the municipality said new playgrounds have been built and four new school sports halls are under construction. The detailed urban plan for the sports complex has been submitted for approval to the Ministry of Transport, while an urban design is being prepared. Urban documentation for multi‑storey parking garages is being aligned, and activities for the indoor pool are reportedly finalised. Bitola has also received recognition as a "Youth‑Friendly City", the municipality added, arguing that showing active construction sites as forgotten promises creates a misleading picture for the public.

Photo: SDK.MK)