Today marks nine years since the armed shootout in Kumanovo's "Divo Naselje" on May 9 and 10, 2015, in which eight members of the security forces died.
In the 28-hour firefight, members of the security forces, Ljubisa Arandjelovic, Boban Ivanovic, Goran Ilijevski, Zharko Kuzmanovski, Isamedin Osmani, Sasho Samojlovski, Nenad Serafimovski and Goran Stojmenovic, who were posthumously awarded medals for bravery, lost their lives. Another 37 members of the security forces were injured.
Kumanovo lived in fear and uncertainty for two days. The shootings started in the early hours of the morning. Kumanovci heard helicopter flyovers. The streets were closed, part of the city was closed, almost the entire Tode Mendol neighborhood.
The factories in that part of the city were not working. Kumanovci remember this extremely tragic event.
The shootings were of varying intensity, thick smoke could be seen from certain places. The security forces evacuated residents, the entrance from the main street "Tode Mendol" from the boulevard "Treta MUB" was allowed only for the police, ambulance and fire department. Some of the fellow citizens from "Divo Naselje" evacuated to relatives. The police evacuated the residents on several occasions. The tragic and disturbing event remained in the memory not only of the people of Kumanovo, but of all Macedonian citizens.
Not to be forgotten and never to be repeated.
