Tomislav Čokrevski Rufi Osmani Alajdin Demiri An unrest occurred in the cities of Gostivar and Tetovo, Macedonia, after the police removed the Albanian and Turkish flags from municipal buildings, on 9 July 1997.

During the mid-1990s, two municipalities in western Macedonia elected Albanian mayors: Rufi Osmani in Gostivar, and Alajdin Demiri in Tetovo.

On 21 May 1997,[1] the Constitutional Court ruled that the display of foreign flags in public was a violation of Macedonian state sovereignty.

[5] On 9 July 1997, around 3 a.m., special police forces entered Gostivar and Tetovo, removing the Albanian and Turkish flags from the city halls.

On the same day, Prime Minister Branko Crvenkovski visited the police in Gostivar and praised their work on national television.

[1] Macedonian president Kiro Gligorov expressed condolences for the victims but said that a state could (and should) protect its national symbols.

[5] On 17 September 1997, Osmani was sentenced to thirteen years and eight months in prison for violating Articles 319 ("inciting national, racial, and religious hatred, discord, and intolerance") and 377 ("neglect to exercise a court ruling") of the Macedonian Penal Code, while Demiri was sentenced to two years and six months on 14 October for disobeying a decision of the constitutional court.