Between June and July, multiple instances of bias-motivated violence were recorded in North Macedonia, coinciding most often with Pride-related activities. In late June, a crowd of over 30 people surrounded the LGBTI Support Centre building, hurling stones, bottles, and bricks, while shouting homophobic slurs and issuing threats. Just days later, a mob gathered outside the home of an openly gay actor and activist, pelting his house with stones and shouting homophobic abuse while he and his partner were inside. In early July, unidentified assailants attempted to set fire to the LGBTI Support Centre, with police investigations revealing that tiles had been removed from the roof and petrol poured onto the beams before being ignited.

In June, the sixth Skopje Pride took place in the capital of North Macedonia under the slogan “We stand. We persist. Together!”. Unlike the previous five editions, which had followed a celebratory format, this year’s Pride was deliberately structured as a protest march. Ahead of the march, participants released the Skopje Pride Manifesto, denouncing “misogyny and hetero patriarchal demographic hysteria promoted by the highest echelons of government” and criticising persistent bureaucratic barriers, including the two-year suspension of legal reforms concerning gender recognition.

In June, the European Parliament published its periodic report on North Macedonia, highlighting widespread hate speech on social media targeting Roma and LGBTI people, as well as other marginalised groups and calling for the systematic prosecution of hate speech, hate crimes, and intimidation. The report also called for the inclusion of hate speech in the Criminal Code.