Tens of thousands of protesters took to the streets in Skopje on Sunday, the capital of the former Yugoslavian Republic of Macedonia.
The crowds called for the resignation of Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski in the central avenue outside his government office.
Since February the Prime Minister, who has served for nine years, has faced a wave of embarrassing revelations against him and his ministers in relation to taped conversations that appear to expose tight government control over journalists, judges and the conduct of elections.
Gruevski says he did not order the recordings and that the audio has been doctored.
The opposition Social Democrat leader Zoran Zaev says the tapes were made illegally by the government as part of a mass surveillance operation targeting 20,000 allies and opponents alike, and leaked to him by a whistleblower.
The combination of Macedonian and Albanian flags in the crowd revealed a dramatic display of ethnic unity against the government.
Ethnic Alba
