The Social Democratic Union leader Zoran Zaev mops his bloodied face amid protests over the appointment of a new speaker in the Macedonian parliament EPA/STRThe president of Macedonia has called an emergency meeting of political leaders after a 200-strong mob stormed parliament last night and assaulted opposition MPs. In chaotic scenes the crowd of masked and bare-chested thugs injured 77 people on the floor of the parliament, including the Social Democrat leader Zoran Zaev, who was left bleeding profusely from a head wound. The protesters, most of whom appeared to support the dominant conservative party, were angry at the appointment as speaker of an MP from a small Albanian party. Protesters broke a police cordon to storm the parliament building in Skopje Boris Grdanoski/APThe designation was an attempt to break months of deadlock following elections in December, held early because of protests against Nikola Gruevski’s government over a wire-tapping scandal. He secured a narrow victory, plunging the country into fresh political turmoil.

Source: The Times April 28, 2017 08:01 UTC