Protesters demanding greater accountability march in North Macedonia over deadly nightclub fire

News

Protesters demanding greater accountability march in North Macedonia over deadly nightclub fire

2025-03-25 05:40 Last Updated At：05:51

SKOPJE, North Macedonia (AP) — Thousands of protesters marched through North Macedonia’s capital Skopje late Monday to demand greater accountability over a nightclub fire that killed 59 people and injured scores of others.

Demonstrators marched past government offices and parliament and applauded medical staff at a nearby hospital for their response to the tragedy.

The March 16 fire in the eastern town of Kocani broke out during an indoor pyrotechnics display at a live concert at the club, which authorities say lacked basic fire safety measures.

“We want to continue living (in North Macedonia), but we need to feel safe,” Milena Janevska, a protest organizer, said. “We expect all those responsible for the tragedy in Kocani to be held accountable.”

The protests reflect growing frustration with the government’s handling of the disaster. The opposition Social Democrats called for the resignation of Interior Minister Panche Toshkovski.

Conservative Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski acknowledged the public’s anger but branded his opponents as “political vultures” seeking to weaken the government.

The corruption investigation into the fire has led to 13 arrests, including a former finance minister and seven senior police officers. Authorities are investigating bribery allegations and whether the club’s operating permits were illegally obtained.

Health Minister Arben Taravari said 115 injured victims of the fire were still receiving treatment abroad.

Protests have been held across the country as well as in neighboring Greece. Dozens of North Macedonian citizens stood silent for an hour in the central square of the northern Greek city of Thessaloniki over the weekend.

Those who attended the silent vigil held black balloons and placards, one of which read, “Their Profits, Our Lives.” Some local residents joined them.

Twelve survivors of the fire are currently hospitalized in Greek civilian and military hospitals, many with severe burns and lung damage from smoke inhalation. Five are in Thessaloniki, which is close to the border with North Macedonia.

Federal judge blocks Trump from dismantling Consumer Financial Protection Bureau

2025-03-29 04:58 Last Updated At：05:01

WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal judge agreed Friday to block the Trump administration from dismantling the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, an agency that was targeted for mass firings before the court’s intervention.

U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson agreed to issue a preliminary injunction that maintains the agency’s existence until she rules on the merits of a lawsuit seeking to preserve the agency. The judge said the court "can and must act” to save the agency from being shuttered.

Jackson ruled that, without a court order, President Donald Trump's administration would move quickly to shut down the agency that Congress created in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis.

“If the defendants are not enjoined, they will eliminate the agency before the Court has the opportunity to decide whether the law permits them to do it, and as the defendants’ own witness warned, the harm will be irreparable,” Berman Jackson said in her order.

During a March 10 hearing, Jackson heard testimony about the chaos that erupted inside the agency after government employees were ordered to stop working last month. The bureau’s chief operating officer, Adam Martinez, said the agency was in “wind-down mode” after Trump fired its previous director, Rohit Chopra, on Feb. 1.

Trump installed a temporary replacement who ordered the immediate suspension of all agency operations, cancelled $100 million in contracts and fired 70 employees.

Martinez said the agency’s current leaders have adopted a more methodical approach than they initially did last month, when representatives of Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency arrived at its Washington headquarters.

CFPB is responsible for protecting consumers from financial fraud and deceptive practices. Congress created the bureau after the 2008 financial crisis. It processes consumer complaints and examines banks to protect student loan borrowers.

The National Treasury Employees Union, which represents more than 1,000 workers at the bureau, sued on Feb. 9 to block mass firings. Plaintiffs’ attorneys argue that the administration doesn’t have the constitutional authority to eliminate an agency that Congress created by statute.

“The defendants’ unlawful action will have immediate consequences for the Americans that the CFPB was designed by Congress to protect,” the lawyers wrote.

Government lawyers have said the plaintiffs are seeking to impermissibly place the CFPB in a “judicially managed receivership,” with the court overseeing its day-to-day operations.

Associated Press writer Lindsay Whitehurst contributed to this report.