It started as a peaceful protest but then degenerated into clashes with police when Albanians marched in Skopje, capital of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.

Around 2,000 people turned out to protest at the life sentences handed down to six Albanians found guilty of murdering five Macedonian fishermen in 2012. They were charged with terrorism and attempting to destabilise the state.

Stones were thrown and police had to use tear gas to repel the crowd, some of whom carried Palestinian and Hamas flags, who chanted “We are not terrorists”, and “We want justice”.

Macedonia’s ethnic Albanian Muslim minority, about a quarter of the population, complains that it is discriminated against and claims it is suffering a wave of politically motivated trials. Many of the protesters appeared to have rallied to the march via social media.