Greek police structures together with the local authorities tried Monday to divide the ethnic Macedonians in the Lerin village of Nered by staging a parallel celebration of the religious holiday of the Assumption of the Holy Mother of God.

The tense atmosphere became tenser still when police took into custody Tuesday the journalists of Kanal 5 and Vest.

In the picturesque village only ten kilometers of Lerin, populated solely with Macedonians, the Greek authorities allowed singing and playing of Macedonian songs for the first time. The goal was undermining the parallel celebration at the local stadium organized by the cultural association of Nered.