Getty Image / ANDREJ ISAKOVIC/AFP
In today’s edition of ‘Europeans showing Americans how protesting IS REALLY done’ a session of Serbian Parliament erupted into all out chaos resulting in multiple injuries to lawmakers. There were flares set on fire, smoke bombs thrown, violence among the members of Parliament and more.
Here in American we often joke that ‘the European mind cannot comprehend’ various things but as an American, I’m having trouble wrapping my mind around the videos come out of this Serbian Parliament session…
If you’re wondering what sparked this violence… If it was perhaps a rigged election, the loss of civil rights, or something of that nature… It was none of that. They were set to vote on increasing funding for colleges in Serbia where all education is already free to citizens. Here are two clips, one from Bloomberg TV that’s shorter and a 6+ minute video below from the Post.
Things exploded, quite literally, in the session about an hour in when one group pulled out a banner which read “Serbia has risen so the regime would fall!!!” In addition to the flares, smoke bombs, and punches being thrown, there were reportedly eggs and water bottles getting tossed around as well. Here is taht longer clip of the Serbian Parliament mayhem from the Post:
Bratislav Gasic, Serbian Defense Minister, called the chaos “a disgrace to Serbia” but honestly, if we’re reaaaaaally being honest here, this might’ve put Serbia on the map. Would we otherwise be sitting here reading/talking/watching videos about Serbia today if they didn’t crank the intensity up to 11 and come to fisticuffs on the floor? No, we would not.
The only time Serbia ever comes up around here is when we are discussing Nikola Jokic, whose thoughts on this Serbian Parliament violence we would LOVE to hear. It’s not unfair to say this violent outburst in parliament has at least put a spotlight on Serbia for the time being.
The protests are anti-corruption in nature as Serbian citizens have for months been protesting governmental corruption. This is just the latest example of the protests there but the first inside a session of Parliament.