"The announcements of the Serbian Orthodox Church about appointing an exarch in Macedonia contained elements of interference in the internal affairs of the state and direct interference in the culture of the Macedonian nation, its identity and historical traditions," Macedonian Foreign Minister Slobodan Casule said for the BBC Macedonian language program.

Casule explained to the Yugoslav Charge d' Affaires in Skopje that he "had to react in order to point out to Yugoslavia that this move of the Serbian Orthodox Church would burden the relations between the two countries, which are good, very positive and at present are heading in the right direction... Macedonia is a secular, multi-confessional state and interference in the relations between the churches, which are very important for the Macedonian nation, is a kind of interference in our internal affairs... We had to react on order to show that such gestures... are unacceptable to us," Casule said.

He added that there were serious reactions from the public and the Macedonian Orthodox Church."

Overnight, there was more gunfire in the Tetovo region than in previous days. According to the Tetovo department of the Interior, series of rifle shots were noted overnight. They came from the Tetovo-Teke complex, the Tetovo medical center, the house of ARM, the "Kuzman Josifovski-Pitu" military barracks, the city square, the "Brakja Migeni" textile school and the settlements of Kupenik, Gorna Carsija and Vonvardarska. Bursts of rifle fire from a vehicle on the Tetovo-Skopje highway were also noted.

Rifle fire and sporadic shots occurred several times in the villages of Slatino, Tearce, Prsovce, Otusiste, Odri, Dobroste, Neraste, Semsevo, Trebos, Radiovce, Celopek, Strimnica, Mala Recica, Zerovjane, Gajre and Lisec. The shots were not aimed at specific targets.