Macedonian government reshuffled under pressure of protests, violence

Under pressure from nationwide protests against his government, Macedonian Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski sacked his interior minister, Gordana Jankulovska, national TV MRTsaid.

The Macedonian parliament is to vote on top security official Mitko Cavkov as Jankulovska's replacement on Wednesday, according to the German (dpa) News Agency.

MRT also said that the head of the national intelligence agency, Saso Mijalkovski, resigned and that a new transport minister was to be appointed.

Jankulovska and Mijalkovski are leaving office after a weekend clash between police and a suspected terrorist group left 22 people dead -eight police and 14 alleged attackers - in the town of Kumanovo.

Gruevski has been under pressure from growing demands for hisresignation from the opposition, led by the Social Democratic Union (SDSM).

The SDSM has been boycotting the parliament since elections 13 months ago, alleging that Gruevski and his VMRO party manipulated the vote and demanding a new, fair poll.

SDSM leader Zoran Zaev has released around 20 batches of what he said were illegal wiretaps of thousands of people, including politicians, judges and journalists.

The material presumably proves that Gruevski controls the media, courts and the economy in order to cement his grip on power.

Some Gruevski's critics also accused him of orchestrating the incident in Kumanovo, which raised the already present tension between Macedonians and the ethnic Albanian minority, in order to distract the public from corruption allegations.