From: Rick Rozoff <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Sunday, July 08, 2001 11:41 AM Subject: Sydney: Mass Demo Against NATO FYROM Policy "We hope to show the Australian government that NATO policies in the Balkans during the past ten years, through deals with Albanian nationalist terrorists, have ony led to an increase in...ethnic cleansing for the purpose of creating a greater Albania." "Tell me, if a major ethnic group in Australia formed a terrorist force and wanted to self-rule, do you think the Australian government would negotiate? They would not." Sunday July 8, 4:34 PM Macedonians stage Sydney protest against NATO SYDNEY, July 8 (AFP) - Macedonians living in Australia responded to tensions in their homeland caused by an ethnic Albanian insurgency by marching on the US consulate here Sunday chanting "Shame NATO, shame." Organisers said about 5,000 Macedonians rallied in Sydney aganst what they say is the failure of NATO and the European Union (EU) to quash separatist aspirations of ethnic Albanians. Guerrillas currently waging war in Macedonia aim to link the UN-run Yugoslav territory of Kosovo with Macedonia's Albanian population to form a greater Albanian homeland. Kosovo won a de facto independence from Yugoslavia after NATO's intervened ... there in 1999. The rally, organised by the Macedonian Australian Council, condemned both NATO and the EU for what the council said was the obstruction of Macedonia's efforts to crush the rebellion. "We want to see the Australian government, NATO and the European Union support an immediate and legitimate elimination of all terrorist movements from the Balkans as a basic pre-condition to peace in Macedonia and the Balkans," council chairman Igor Aleksandrov told journalists. "We hope to show the Australian government that NATO policies in the Balkans during the past 10 years, through deals with Albanian nationalist terrorists, have only led to an increase in... ethnic cleansing for the purpose of creating a greater Albania. "We will continue to lobby for a stop to negotiations with Albanian terrorists and nationalist extremists." The protest follows NATO attempts to persuade the Macedonian government to grant constitutional concessions to Albanian nationalists. "We condemn all attempts by NATO, the EU and the Macedonian president to reward terrorism by negotiating with Albanian extremists and legitimising their racist demands for ethnic segregation of Macedonia," a council statement said. Steven Milisevski, 17, told ABC radio the demonstration did not target all Albanians, but only those seeking to partition Macedonia. "We must not do deals with the devil, that is talk to terrorists because when you live in a country, you must abide by its laws," he said. "Tell me, if a major ethnic group in Australia formed a terrorist force and wanted to self-rule, do you think the Australian government would negotiate? They would not." ==================================================================== KOMINFORM P.O. Box 66 00841 Helsinki Phone +358-40-7177941 Fax +358-9-7591081 http://www.kominf.pp.fi General class struggle news: [EMAIL PROTECTED] subscribe mails to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Geopolitical news: [EMAIL PROTECTED] subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] __________________________________________________
