Macedonia parliament stormed by protesters in Skopje
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| Social Democrat leader Zoran Zaev was among those injured after a fight broke out |
A
brawl broke out injuring at least 10 people, including the Social Democrat
leader Zoran Zaev, who was left with blood pouring down his face.
The
protesters, supporters of ex-Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski's VMRO party, are
demanding new elections.
Politics
in the former Yugoslav republic has been deadlocked since an inconclusive
election in December.
But the crisis goes back further, to a phone-tapping scandal two
years ago.
Mr Zaev has created a coalition with ethnic Albanian parties,
but his attempts to form a government have been blocked by
the president.
Macedonian
nationalists have been protesting on the streets since Mr Zaev tried to form
the coalition.
Ethnic Albanians
make up around a quarter of the country's population.
The
people who stormed parliament were angered by the coalition's decision to elect
Talat Xhaferi as speaker.
They
fear moves to improve the status of Albanians threaten Macedonian unity.
Some
of the 200 protesters were masked. Witnesses saw broken glass on the floor and
traces of blood in hallways.
Police
fired stun grenades to disperse protesters and allow politicians to exit the
parliament building.
A statement from the
US Embassy in Macedonia, published on Twitter, said: "We condemn the
violence in the strongest possible terms.
"It
is not consistent with democracy and is not an acceptable way to resolve
differences."
The
secretary general of Nato, Jens Stoltenberg, tweeted that he was
"shocked" by the "attacks".
"All
parties should respect democratic process and engage in dialogue, not
violence," he wrote.
"Violence
has NO place in Parliament. Democracy must run its course," tweeted
European Union Commissioner Johannes Hahn.
Skopje
has also seen regular protests against the coalition by demonstrators who
believe it will damage the country's national unity.
Macedonia
came close to civil war in 2001 after an Albanian uprising.
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