Macedonia Villagers Fuming Over 11-Day Power Cut

Several hundred protesters in western Macedonia - outraged by an 11-day power outage in the depths of winter - blocked electricians from the power company from leaving the region until they fixed the problem.

Media reports said they threatened to destroy local facilities of the power company, EVN, after which police were dispatched to the scene.

The tension deflated just in time time. Reports said the power came back on one hour before midnight.

Earlier during the day, angry locals gathered in the centre of the mountain village of Rostushe, calling attention to their prolonged ordeal and carrying banners that read: "We too are [part of] Macedonia."

"This is outrageous. We spent New Year in darkness... and we had to throw out our groceries from our fridges. But they act as if nothing happened," one villager told BIRN via telephone.

Mayor Mukrem Mehmedi has also been widely blamed for doing nothing to resolve the drama. EVN Macedonia meanwhile said it had done what it could to fix the situation in the snow-covered mountainous region.

The protest took place a day after the government's "crisis management centre", formed to deal with the plight of villages and roads blocked by snow, declared that "everything was under control".

The municipality of Mavrovo and Rostushe, home to some 8,600 people, has been hard hit by the snowfall that descended just before New Year.

However, the snow that in some areas lies one metre deep is hardly unusual site at this time of year, or in a region that houses one of the country's top ski resorts, Mavrovo.

The recent unusually long power cuts in several parts of western Macedonia have become a subject of political quarrels as well.

The main opposition...