Incident at Serbian parliament session on Kosovo

RTS/printscreen

Thursday’s parliament session deteriorated into a shouting and shoving match between the ruling coalition and nationalist opposition parties following an exchange of accusations.

President Aleksandar Vucic responded sharply to opposition heckling during his presentation of a government report on the Kosovo talks with Speaker Vladimir Orlic issuing several verbal warnings. The sound on the live coverage on the state TV featured only what the president and speaker said with the microphones on the MPs’ benches turned off.

Nationalist opposition MPs unfurled a banner saying No Capitulation and carried smaller signs with similar messages.

The session broke down well into question time after the head of the nationalist Dveri movement Bosko Obradovic MP lashed out at Vucic, ending his address saying that he is not in the opposition to Serbia but to Vucic.

MPs from Vucic’s Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) and other ruling coalition parties rose out of their seats to confront Dveri, Oathkeeper and other opposition MPs with a line of plain clothes police forming in front of the bench the president was seated in.

Vucic responded with offensive remarks to the opposition calling them thieves and cowards and loud statements of his commitment and love of Serbia.

The incident calmed after a few minutes with Vucic and Speaker Orlic calling ruling coalition MPs to return to their seats. Vucic made more offensive remarks directed at three opposition MPs when the situation calmed.

Former Serbian President Boris Tadic said he does not rule out the possibility that the “scandal” in the Serbian Parliament was arranged by Vucic and a part of the opposition.

“This is so bizarre that I’m not ruling out the possibility that this scandal in the Parliament was arranged between Vucic and a part of the opposition, because they both put media performances and personal ratings above Serbia’s reputation and interests,” Tadic wrote on Twitter.