Scuffles had broken out in the Serbian parliament on Monday after opposition legislators hoisted banners accusing the ruling coalition of trying to evade responsibility for the collapse of a train station roof that killed 15 people earlier this month.
Radomir Lazovic, of the opposition Green-Left Front party had put a picture of a red hand captioned ‘you have blood on your hands’ on the speaker’s platform, according to a video footage from the N1 television station showed.
The health minister, Zatibor Loncar, approached him and started arguing. Other deputies rushed in front of the speaker’s platform shouting, pulling and hitting one another.
The opposition deputies shouted: “killers, killers”.
Some even held a picture of the president, Aleksandar Vucic with red hands up and a sign saying: “No one is to be blamed”.
The disaster at the recently renovated train station in Novi Sad has evolved into a continuous political headache for Vucic and his ruling party, who the opposition and many ordinary citizens had accused of nepotism and corruption – both charges the politicians have denied.
Twelve people, including a former minister were detained over the incident last week, but that effort failed to alleviate the pressure. The opposition had remarked that authorities waited too long to act against likely perpetrators.
Although the parliament was due to debate the 2025 budget on Monday, the opposition had demanded a debate on the disaster.
They also filed a no-confidence motion against the government, even though the parliament speaker, Ana Brnabic, said it would not be on the agenda on Monday.
As it stands now, the opposition is calling on Prime Minister Milos Vucevic, who was mayor of Novi Sad when construction began, to resign.
The ruling coalition also denied the allegations and accused the opposition of triggering clashes with police in protests at the station.
The session was resumed minutes after 2 p.m. (13:00 GMT) but the opposition deputies suspended it by making noise and whistle blowing.
Political tension is at an all time high in Serbia, and it goes against yhe European Union’s foreign policy towards Russia despite its ambition for EU membership.
