Bilingual Sign (Macedonian - Greek)
A photograph of the bilingual sign written in both Macedonian and Greek which hung in the RAINBOW
party's office in Florina (Lerin). The sign was removed by order of the District Prosecutor and the
office was burned and ransacked by a mob led by the town's mayor and including police officers.
Instead of charging the mayor, police, and others in the mob with violent acts, the state laid charges
against four members of the RAINBOW Party. The state alleged that displaying a sign which contained
three words in the Macedonian language (derogatorily referred to by the District Prosecutor as a
"Slavic idiom") was cause for inciting the population to violence. The only Macedonian words on the
sign were: "Vinozhito" (RAINBOW) and "Lerinski Komitet" (Florina Committee).
Ilinden
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