TIRANA, May 12, 2008 (Xinhua via COMTEX News Network) -- Macedonia's Foreign Ministry sent a note of protest to Greek liaison office in Skopje on Monday, asking its southern neighbor to prevent harassment of its citizens in Greece. 

Three separate incidents of Macedonian citizens being harassed and their vehicles vandalized have been reported for the last few days, news reaching here from Skopje quoted the note as saying. 

"Such acts of harassment and vandalism not only violate the freedom of movement of people and goods, but also present a physical threat to Macedonian citizens," the note read. 

The Foreign Ministry said in the note that one of the incidents took place in the presence of Greek police, who did nothing to prevent the act of violence. 

"We expect the Greek relevant institutions to take appropriate measures to prevent such incidents happening in the future," the note said. 

Macedonia and Greece has been at loggerheads with each other over a name issue for the past 17 years since Macedonia broke from former Yugoslavia in 1991. 

Athens has been opposed to its northern neighbor being called Macedonia, arguing it implies a territorial claim over a Greek northern province of the same name. 

Macedonia's NATO membership bid was thwarted by Greece over the running name dispute at the alliance's summit in Bucharest, Romania, at the start of April.