Zoran Zaev

Some 15,000 people marched through the streets of Skopje on Tuesday, led by the opposition Social Democrats in alliance with the Association of WWII Veterans and other NGOs and prominent activists.

BELGRADE - Thousands of protesters have marched through Macedonia's capital and pelted paint-bombs at the main government building and police. They urged the government's resignation, despite President Gjorge Ivanov recently ceding to opposition demands.

Macedonian legal experts say either parliament, the Constitutional Court or President Gjorge Ivanov himself could annul the hotly disputed pardon of top politicians and their associates, which has worsened Macedonia's political crisis.

The EU-mediated meeting of Macedonian political leaders for resolving the country's political crisis has been cancelled after the main opposition Social Democrats declined to attend, the EU mediators have said.

Tensions in Macedonia continue to run high as protests took place in Skopje for the eighth consecutive day on Wednesday.

Protests were sparked by last week's decision of Macedonian President Gjorge Ivanov to pardon 56 politicians for their alleged involvement in last year's wiretapping scandal.

BELGRADE - Several thousand people protested in FYROM's (Macedonia) capital, Skopje, for the eighth day on April 19, calling for President Gjorge Ivanov to resign.

The country's political crisis began last year when the opposition accused the government of illegally wiretapping some 20,000 people, including politicians, judges, police, journalists, and diplomats.

Macedonia's opposition Social Democrat leader Zoran Zaev said he will not travel to Vienna for EU-brokered talks with the ruling party unless President Gjorge Ivanov withdraws his  decision to stop criminal investigations against politicians and unless the June 5 elections - on which the ruling party insists - are called off.

Tensions in Macedonia continued to run high on Tuesday, as thousands of pro-opposition protesters gathered in Skopje and other parts of the country, while parallel protests took place in several towns.

Protests were sparked by last week's decision of Macedonian President Gjorge Ivanov to pardon 56 political figures for their alleged involvement in last year's wiretapping scandal.

Amid heavy police presence in the Macedonian capital the two groups of protesters were not allowed to get close to each other.

Macedonia braced for fresh protests on April 14 after an anti-government demonstration turned violent, following the president's shock decision to halt probes into more than 50 public figures embroiled in a wire-tapping scandal.