A violent brawl broke out in Serbia’s parliament Monday between government ministers and opposition MPs protesting a deadly building collapse.
The melée took place on the floor of the Serbian National Assembly chamber after Prime Minister Miloš Vučević attempted to present the country’s budget for 2025.
Opposition MPs, some blowing whistles and horns to disrupt Vučević’s speech, held up signs reading “your hands are bloody” to protest the government’s alleged culpability in the collapse of a railway station roof in the city of Novi Sad earlier this month that killed 15 people.
Two ministers have resigned and a dozen people have been arrested over the disaster, which critics allege was the result of corruption and a lack of transparency around infrastructure projects.
Radomir Lazović, a member of the opposition party Green–Left Front, said the fracas broke out when he approached government ministers with a sticker displaying a bloody handprint. He alleged Health Minister Zlatibor Lončar responded by “attacking” him, sparking a “general fight.”
“We tried to calm down the situation, [but] they attacked us all the time, the police and [ruling Serbian Progressive Party] SNS together,” Lazović said.
Footage of the incident captured by local media shows MPs shouting, shoving, slapping and throwing water on each other as parliamentary security officers attempt to separate them. Lazović said several MPs were injured.
Speaker of Parliament Ana Brnabić struggled to restore order, calling on all MPs to return to their seats. “This is a shame for this house,” she said, before cutting the parliamentary broadcast’s audio.
The chaos reflects the deep anger over the train station disaster in Serbia, where thousands of people, some with their hands painted red, have taken to the streets to demand accountability, at times clashing with police.
Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić denounced the protesters as “thugs” while promising to punish whoever is responsible for the building’s collapse.
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