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AUTHORITIES SHUT DOWN TOP MACEDONIAN CLUB

Sektor 909 in Balkan state capital Skopje abruptly closed

Sektor 909, probably the best club in the Balkan state of Macedonia, has been abruptly closed by authorities.

The main nightclub in the capital Skopje for underground electronic music, Derrick May, Terrence Parker, Kiko Navarro, Andy Butler from Hercules & Love Affair and DJ Sneak are among those who have played Sektor 909 in recent times.

The club accused the Macedonian authorities of using repressive tactics to “crush” non-conformist nightlife in the city.

“Sector 909 wishes to inform the public and the audience who have been with us for the 15 past years that certain groups guided by political and business interests made superhuman efforts to crush and destroy the urban nightlife in Skopje,” the club said in a statement.

“While doing this, they did not care about respecting the law or about the contribution that the club made for the social and cultural life in the city.”

The authorities revoked the club’s license before it had even expired, Sektor 909’s statement alleged.

“Tonight, Sector 909 has been deleted from the map of Skopje’s cultural and urban life. However, we are not the ones that are suffering the greatest damage, but you, our followers. We would not be here without your support and we could not have become what we are now without you. Unfortunately, we also became an obstacle to political and business power centres,” it said.

The official statement on the Sektor 909 Facebook page was quickly shared over 800 times by dance music fans of the venue.

“This seems to be the latest closure by authorities somewhere in the world, for spurious reasons, of a proper underground dance venue,” said Carl Loben, DJ Mag editor. “These threats to our culture must stop. DJ Mag sends full support to Sektor 909, and we hope to publicise through our Save Our Clubs campaign the plight of venues under threat right across the planet.”

Sign up for more info on DJ Mag’s Save Our Clubs campaign here.