Country marks one year since the Pulse nightclub blaze that killed 63 people, with silent tributes and symbolic white chairs
Students, residents, and senior officials gathered on Monday in the eastern town of Kocani to commemorate the 63 people who died in a fire at the Pulse nightclub a year ago, one of the deadliest tragedies in North Macedonia’s recent history.
During the memorial ceremony in the town’s Park of the Revolution, the mother of one of the victims approached Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski and pinned a badge shaped like a broken heart on his jacket. The badge bore the inscription “Kocani 16.03.2025”, a symbolic reminder of the tragedy that shook the country.
In the park, organisers installed a symbolic memorial of 63 white chairs – one for each victim – each topped with a white rose. Family members, friends, and citizens laid flowers and lit candles in remembrance of those who lost their lives in the blaze on March 16, 2025.
At 02:32 a.m., the exact time when the fire broke out last year during a concert at the nightclub, hundreds of people stood in silence outside the former Pulse venue, holding candles during a minute’s silence.
Earlier in the day, a memorial prayer was held in the Park of the Revolution, led by Metropolitan Ilarion of the Bregalnica diocese, together with priests from the local St. George church.
Among those attending were President Gordana Siljanovska-Davkova, Prime Minister Mickoski, opposition Social Democrat leader Venko Filipce, lawmakers and local officials, as well as the parents and relatives of the victims.
After the prayer service, Mickoski signed a book of condolences placed next to the memorial installation.
“Today in Kocani we pay a quiet but profound tribute to the innocent lives that were extinguished far too early,” Mickoski wrote later on social media. “One year later, the pain and the emptiness are still felt in every heart, but so is the memory of dreams left unfinished.”
Filipce, leader of the opposition Social Democratic Union, also attended the commemoration and expressed condolences to the families.
“There are no words that can describe the pain and grief of the families who lost their loved ones,” he said.
The fire at the Pulse nightclub broke out during a concert on March 16, 2025, killing 63 people and injuring more than 200, leaving a lasting scar on the town of Kocani and the country as a whole.
Later on Sunday, the central commemorative event titled “Day of Remembrance – March 16, 2025” was scheduled to take place at the Beli Mugri Cultural Centre, where the names and life stories of the victims were to be read aloud.