Protest in Skopje after Bogdanci femicide: demonstrators demand institutional accountability

Hundreds of people gathered at noon in Zena Borec park in Skopje to protest a recent femicide in Bogdanci and demand accountability for institutional failures. The march, called by the informal initiative "Not One More!", passed the Assembly and the Ministry of Justice and ended in front of the Ministry of Education and Science.

Demonstrators demand concrete steps and names of those responsible

Demonstrators carried banners with slogans such as "I did not give birth and raise her for someone to beat and burn her alive", "You will not take away our anger", and "Family values — beatings and insults" to underscore anger at what they described as normalized violence and impunity.

The immediate trigger for the protest was the killing of 17-year-old Biljana Kirić in Bogdanci. Activists said she had previously reported violence and threats to her life before being killed by her partner.

Speakers at the rally recalled other women and girls who lost their lives to gender-based violence — Ramajana, Rosica, Tankica, Ivana, Katja — and asked how many more victims are needed before institutions act.

One of the speakers, activist Elena Petrova, addressed the crowd with a detailed call for institutional measures: "For all failures we demand names, responsibility and sanctions. Second, urgent submission and adoption of the legal amendments for protection from violence. Third, restore gender and gender equality in the laws, programmes and education from which you erased them. Fourth, remove from public functions those who call for control over women, justify violence or normalise their subjugation."

Organisers said the protest aimed to put pressure on state institutions to investigate past failures, to push for immediate legal reforms related to protection against gender-based violence, and to remove public officials whose statements or actions they see as enabling abuse.

Photo: press material from the event