Thousands rallied Saturday in southwestern Macedonia to demand that the government reimburse them for money lost in failed investment schemes.
"We want our money! We'll get it with weapons if we have to!" the protesters shouted in the main square of Bitolj, Macedonia's second-largest city.In neighboring Albania, similar protests over failed pyramid schemes flared into armed insurrection earlier this year, causing the deaths of about 500 people and the near-collapse of authority.
Pyramid scheme operators promise extremely high rates of return, using money from new deposits to pay earlier investors. The schemes eventually collapse when they run out of new investors.
Like Albania, Macedonia is one of Europe's poorest countries.
A private bank, TAT, had promised Macedonian investors interest rates of up to 10 percent a month. More than 23,000 people took the offer, investing $65.8 million. They hit the streets after the bank went belly up in February.
Macedonians have threatened to quit paying taxes unless the state, which allowed the shady private banks to operate, pays compensation for the losses.