Lawmakers injured as smoke bombs, flares thrown in Serbian parliament

At least three lawmakers were injured on Tuesday, one of them seriously, after chaotic scenes in Serbia’s parliament, during which smoke bombs and flares were thrown, further fueling political tensions in the Balkan country.

Lawmakers were scheduled to vote on a law that would increase funding for university education, but opposition parties said the ruling majority was also planning to approve dozens of other decisions. They said that was illegal and that lawmakers should first confirm the resignation of Prime Minister Milos Vucevic and his government.

Chaos erupted about an hour after the parliamentary session started, with opposition lawmakers blowing whistles and holding up a banner reading “Serbia has risen so the regime would fall!” Hundreds of opposition supporters rallied outside the parliament building during the session.

Video footages from the assembly hall showed clashes between lawmakers and flares and smoke bombs being thrown. Serbian media said eggs and water bottles also were thrown.

Officials later said three people were injured in the disturbance, including lawmaker Jasmina Obradovic who was taken to hospital. Parliament speaker Ana Brnabic, who accused the opposition of being a “terrorist gang.”

Defense Minister Bratislav Gasic described those behind the incident as “a disgrace to Serbia.”

“The vandalism of opposition MPs has exposed the nature of their personalities and the essence of their political agenda,” Gasic said.

Serbia’s populist President Aleksandar Vucic visited Obradovic in the hospital. 

“Jasmina will win, Serbia will win,” Vucic said in a post on Instagram, showing him holding the lawmaker’s hand in an emergency room.

The incident reflects a deep political crisis in Serbia where monthslong anti-corruption protests have rattled a populist government.

Vucevic resigned in January as the government faced protests over the collapse in November of a concrete train station canopy in northern Serbia that killed 15 people, which critics blamed on rampant corruption. Parliament must confirm the prime minister’s resignation for it to take effect.

A rise in education funding has been one of the demands by Serbia’s protesting students who have been a key driving force behind almost daily street protests that started after the Nov. 1 canopy collapse in Novi Sad.

Opposition parties have insisted that the government has no authority to pass new laws. Leftist lawmaker Radomir Lazovic said the opposition was ready to support the passing of the student-requested education bill, but not the other decisions listed at the assembly agenda.

Lazovic said “we can only discuss the fall of the government.” He said the only way out of the current crisis would be a transitional government that would create conditions for a free a fair election, a demand that the ruling populists have repeatedly rejected.

Vucic and his ruling right-wing Serbian Progressive Party have imposed a firm grip on power in the past decades despite formally seeking European Union membership.

Many in Serbia believe the fatal canopy collapse was the result of sloppy work and a disregard for safety regulations because of government corruption.