The Deputy Speaker of the Parliament of North Macedonia, Vesna Bendevska, has reported to the Prosecutor's Office in Bitola that the Bulgarian cultural club "Ivan Mihailov" in the city continues to function, despite its deletion from the central register, BTA reported, referring to https:/ /sdk.mk.

Bendevska's actions come after a phototype edition of the play "Macedonian Blood Wedding" by Voydan Chernodrinski was presented in the premises managed by the association on November 1, when Bulgaria celebrates the Day of National Enlighteners. "The lecturers said that Voydan Chernodrinski is a Bulgarian revivalist and that ‘Macedonian Blood Wedding’ is a part of the Bulgarian cultural heritage and a personification of the struggles and striving for freedom of the Bulgarians." According to Bendevska, "these are provocations and violations against Macedonian national feelings".

The chairman of the already defunct "Ivan Mihailov" Cultural Club association in Bitola, Lupcho Georgievski, defined the actions of Bendevska as "a deliberate attempt to silence the cultural and national characteristics and aspirations of the Bulgarian community in Macedonia". "The constant administrative pressure on the representatives of the Macedonian Bulgarians, as well as the abuse with court cases against them, is the most convincing argument in favor of the urgent need for constitutional guarantees for our violated collective rights," Lupcho Georgievski wrote on Facebook.