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Over 100,000 Greeks have gathered in the northern city of Thessaloniki to demand that neighboring country Macedonia change its name because it is also the name of the Greek province of which Thessaloniki is the capital.

Greece and the Republic of Macedonia have been locked in the name dispute ever since the latter declared independence from Yugoslavia in 1991. The country is officially represented in international organizations as The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.

Rally organizers claim that 400,000 people took part Sunday, while police unofficially estimated the crowd at 100,000.

The rally was staged in front of the statue of Alexander the Great, the most famous ruler of the ancient Greek Kingdom of Macedonia.