Raucous protests were reported out the main gate of Thessaloniki’s international fairgrounds on Monday afternoon, as demonstrators tried to breakup an event being held by a local chapter of ruling SYRIZA party, entitled “Macedonian issue: Benefits of the (Prespes) agreement and prospects for the Balkans.”
The protesters, according to the website voria.gr, threw rocks and other objects at riot police guarding the fairgrounds’ gate and the radical leftist party’s event. Police also used tear gas to block protesters.
The Prespes agreement between Tsipras and Zaev governments in Athens and Skopje, respectively, aims to finally resolve the fYRoM ‘name issue’ preventing the full normalization of bilateral ties since the early 1990s.