The capital of North Macedonia was ranked among the ten most polluted European cities.
Hundreds of people took to the streets of Skopje on Tuesday to call on the government of North Macedonia to take immediate action to address high levels of air pollution in the capital. TASR took over the report from the AFP agency.
Some of the demonstrators wore gas masks and chanted slogans such as “We want air, we want to breathe”. They took to the streets after the publication of a report which ranked Skopje among the ten most polluted European cities.
“I’m protesting because we don’t have clean air, they’re systematically killing each of us, and it’s time for the government to do something about it,” Anastasija, a 22-year-old student, told AFP.
In North Macedonia, nearly 4,000 people die each year from exposure to PM2.5, the smallest solid particles in the air that can be inhaled and are the most dangerous to humans, according to the country’s public health institute.
Several environmental groups that organized the protest criticize the government for not allocating funds in the budget to combat air pollution. Demonstrators demand a necessary reduction in the import of vehicles with so-called low emission standards (that is, producing more emissions), increasing the number of inspections in industrial plants and dealing with landfills.
