Opposition MPs threw smoke grenades inside the parliament of the European country of Serbia on Tuesday. The opposition staged this demonstration in protest against government policies and in support of protesting students.
As soon as the ruling coalition led by the Serbian Progressive Party in Serbia’s parliament approved the agenda for this session, some opposition leaders stood up from their seats and rushed to the speaker’s chair.
They threw smoke grenades into the house, filling it with black smoke. During this, there was also a scuffle with their security guards.
There was to be a discussion on the Prime Minister’s resignation.
The Serbian parliament was set to pass a law on Tuesday to increase funding for the country’s universities. It was also set to discuss the resignation of Prime Minister Milos Vucevic, but other items on the agenda presented by the ruling coalition angered the opposition. This was followed by the uproar.
Speaker Ana Brnabic said two MPs were injured in the attack, one of whom, Jasmina Obradovic, is in critical condition. The speaker said Serbian parliament would continue its work.
Protests began after the death of 15 people
In fact, a section of the roof of a railway station collapsed on November 1 in Novi Sad, Serbian parliament second largest city. Fifteen people were killed in this.
The incident sparked protests against the Serbian parliament in the country. Thousands of people took to the streets to demand accountability for the incident. People alleged that the balcony collapsed due to corruption in construction projects.
Students blocked public movement for 15 minutes
The protests were largely attended by students. They stopped the movement of vehicles across the country for 15 minutes every morning at 11:52 am. This was the same time when the balcony collapse incident at the railway station took place. In addition, studies in the country’s universities were also halted.
The Prime Minister resigned to calm the anger.
On November 24, protests intensified in the country. People stopped going to work. Seeing the growing anger of the people, Prime Minister Vucevic said last month that he did not want tensions to increase further in the country, so he was resigning from his post to calm the situation.
Vucevic was to serve as Prime Minister until May 2024. He has previously held the positions of Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defense.