Karpoš Under Firecrackers for a Whole Week, Says a Resident: New Year Is Two Months Away and Bit-Pazar Is the Known Address

A resident of Skopje's Karpoš neighbourhood posted on social media that for a full week minors have been throwing and setting off firecrackers there, which she suspects were bought at Bit-Pazar, the city's old market. Children, older people and pets, she says, are exposed to loud blasts every day. "Do we really have to wait for an accident before someone, finally, reacts?" she asks.

The question is uncomfortable because it's November. Firecrackers usually belong to the days before the New Year holidays, and this year they started early.

The Interior Ministry regularly reminds the public that unauthorised buying, selling and use are banned. Setting off pyrotechnics in public is a misdemeanour with a fine of 200 to 500 euros, which for minors can be passed on to the parents, and reselling them on the black market is a crime. On paper, the system is in perfect order.

Bit-Pazar is no secret location. In December 2025 police there were seizing several thousand pieces at a time: 7,107 on 8 December, 3,372 on 14 December and more than 6,000 on 30 December. The record seizure of over 25 tonnes on 24 and 25 December, meanwhile, took place at the Gradsko toll station and in Skopje and ended with two arrests, one of them a serving police officer.

When one place turns up in police bulletins three times in a month, it's clear where to look. Who is controlling sales to minors in November, with a whole month still to go before the New Year crackdowns? The resident has already asked. The institutions have two more months until the holidays to answer, before some ambulance crew answers for them.