At least 3 Serbian lawmakers injured as smoke bombs and flares thrown in parliament

BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — 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 this 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 a clash first between lawmakers and later flares and smoke bombs being thrown. Serbian media said eggs and water bottles also were thrown. Officials later said three persons were injured in the disturbance.

Parliament speaker Ana Brnabic, who accused the opposition of being a “terrorist gang,” said one of those injured was in a serious condition.

Demands by protesting students

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 the Serbia’s north that killed 15 people and 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.

Call for transitional government

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.

Serbia's increasingly authoritarian President Aleksandar 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 of safety regulations because of government corruption.