Thousands of protesters have taken to the streets of the Macedonian capital to demonstrate against what they say is corruption in the government. Over 20,000 people marched in Skopje on 20 June.

Protesters are demanding fair elections in the former Yugoslav republic, after an EU mandated election on 5 June was suspended due to corruption allegations against President Gjorge Ivanov and former prime minister Nikola Gruevski.

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One protester, Vanco Sanev, said, "Our message is simple – this fascism in Macedonia has to stop. We are fighting for the future of our children, we are fighting for democracy and for human rights".

Gruevski and his allies stand accused of authorising the eavesdropping of more than 20,000 people during his tenure. However, President Ivanov decided in April to pardon 56 of the officials prosecuted in the case, leading to a public outcry.

Ivanov has since revoked 36 of the pardons, meeting US and EU demands, but protesters say that is not enough. They marched on his office on 20 June and pelted it with paint bombs, a tactic which has led to this movement being dubbed the "Colourful Revolution".

Maja Maracanin, another protester, said: "We have been protesting for 70 days already. We all have the same demands, to which the government does not react, and as we have said before we are losing patience and we don't want to wait much longer, and we will not give up our demands."

The Macedonian parliament have started the process to impeach President Ivanov over these claims. However, they are unlikely to succeed due to not meeting the two thirds majority needed.