This is really disappointing, especially coming from Greece a member of NATO and EU. IFJ should investigate the reasons why Greece does not allow the ethnic Macedonian national minority within their borders to have their own television station, radio station, or newspaper outlet in their own language.

IT WAS ABOUT TIME!

We all know why they were arrested. Greeks are doing much of damage to the Macedonians,and they obviously don't want this incidents to be reported. That's their Democracy. But everyone In EU and NATO is watching and it seems to all agree with Greeks. But Macedonian should saty strong,and the truth wiil come out. One day.

Governmental raced-based preclusion of freedom of the press and media because of state sponsored suppression precluding Greek citizens of Macedonian national origin from practicing their Macedonian religion, language, or national origin by use of the Greek military and secret police is not only non-European, but it is also undemocratic. Greek citizens of Macedonian ethnicity, as represented by the Macedonian Rainbow political Party based in (Florina) Lerin, Greece, say “[i]t all started when Greek army tanks and other armored vehicles tried to move through the Macedonian village and reach an army training site to practice heavy artillery fire. The inhabitants of Lofi/Zabrdeny, aided by people from the nearby villages of Meliti/Ovcharany, Vevi/Banica and Kelli/Gornichevo, blocked the road leading to the training site, demanding that no heavy artillery fire would take place and that the armed forces withdrew from the village. Instead, special police units arrived and tried by force to clear the road, arresting four people. Among them the President of the local Lofi/Zabrdeny municipal council, Kole Mitskopoulos.” It is high time for the European Union to stop looking the other way and finally join the United Nations investigation of the Greek government human rights violations against ethnic Macedonians, as ordered by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, in an effort to end the race-based violence by the Greek government against citizens of Macedonian ethnicity. Ms. Gay McDougall, a special envoy from the United Nations was in Florina (Lerin), northern Greece, on September 14, 2008 investigating minority issues against Greek citizens of Macedonian national origin. Ms McDougall met with several members of the Rainbow Macedonian Political Party in Greece (Vinozhito), representing the Macedonian minority in Greece. Production of Ms. McDougall’s official report on the Greek violence against ethnic Macedonians is now in the works.

Mr Paco Audije this announcement is not helping at all the peace in the region but also give a step to an outrageous distortion of what really happened and It's a mere distortion of the truth. In every well-governed state, persons entering military zones or facilities without permission and also making video recordings and/or taking photographs of such areas and facilities are always checked by the competent authorities. This was the case when this TV crew from the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia(FYROM) that was taking photographs and making video recordings – without permission – of a military exercise area on Greek territory was briefly checked.