Political Divisions Mar Macedonia's National Holiday

Macedonian police say they have boosted security in and around the mountain town of Krusevo in case of incidents during Wednesday's commemoration of Ilinden, the St Elijah's Day uprising against Ottoman rule in 1903.

The move comes after the former ruling right-wing VMRO DPMNE party cancelled its attendance at the festivities, called on its members to do the same and warned of possible incidents.

The VMRO DPMNE took this stance because it claims that the new government led by its bitter opponents, the Social Democrats, SDSM, is illegitimate and unpatriotic.

It also objects to the scheduled speech in Krusevo by the parliamentary speaker Talat Xhaferi, a former Albanian insurgent during the brief armed conflict in the country in 2001.

"We deem this Ilinden too important for us to give legitimacy to illegally elected officials," VMRO DPMNE MP Antonijo Milososki told media on Tuesday during the party's own ceremony in Krusevo at the monument dedicated to fallen revolutionaries.

Milososki called on VMRO DPMNE sympathisers not to attend the official ceremony on Wednesday, warning that the announcement that Xhaferi will make a speech "irritates the people" and may "create some conditions [for] someone to create some deliberate incidents that may tarnish Ilinden".

Police promised that they would boost security to ensure that the event was secure. 

"The Macedonian police have enough capacity to guarantee citizens' safety of the citizens and to allow the envisaged festivities for the holiday to be carried out peacefully," police said in a press statement on Tuesday.

The VMRO DPMNE's decision to boycott this year's official festivities represents a break from the past, as the Ilinden celebration...