The statement comes after media reported that the closing ceremony, scheduled for 15 December in the Leon Štukelj Square in the centre of the city, would be cancelled due to recurring violent protests against the mayor.

Due to the violence the programme will be "dispersed" around the city, the organisers said. Unofficial information indicates that the event at which Maribor will symbolically pass the baton to Marseilles and Kosice will be held indoors, at the Narodni dom.

Suzana Žilič Fišer, the director general of Institute Maribor 2012, told the STA the European Capital of Culture was not a political project but a project for the people and had to be "concluded appropriately".