Masked protesters injure MPs in Macedonian parliament

Dozens of protesters, some of them masked, initially broke through a police cordon after the opposition Social Democrats and parties representing Macedonia's ethnic Albanian minority voted to name a new parliament speaker.

Among the attacked was Zoran Zaev, leader of the Social Democratic Union for Macedonia (SDSM), which is leading a coalition with three ethnic Albanian political parties.

The protesters threw chairs, pushed over camera tripods and pounded legislators with their fists.

"I want to condemn the violence and those individuals who have attacked and injured lawmakers", Gruevski said at his party headquarters early Friday.

Gruevski condemned the attack, saying that he is always against violence regardless who incites it, and blamed SDSM and the Albanian parties for electing a parliament speaker in a non-legitimate manner. "The acts of violence in the Parliament are wholly unacceptable and we call for calm and restraint", EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini and European Commissioner Johannes Hahn said in a joint statement.

Footage showed Mr Zaev and other Social Democrats surrounded by protesters waving national flags, shouting "traitors" and refusing to allow them to leave.

"This is the time for dialogue and not for violence", Mats Staffansson, Sweden's ambassador to Skopje, told reporters on behalf of European Union and US legations in Macedonia. The newly elected speaker is Albanian Talat Xhaferi.

The manager of an old Yugoslav military bunker complex outside Skopje has denied a rumor the authorities plan to take it over as a command post and declare martial law to block the coalition from forming a government, Balkan Insight reports.

Police try to block protestors from entering into the parliament building in Skopje, Macedonia, Thursday, April 27, 2017.

The Turkish presidency said in a written statement Friday that it hoped "differences in opinion" in Macedonia would soon be solved through dialogue and tolerance.

Conservative VMRO-DPMNE leader Nikola Gruevski also deplored the violence, but said his political opponents provoked it.

Supporters of the would-be government, however, accused Ivanov of trying to protect VMRO-DPMNE leaders, who ruled for the past decade and faced possible criminal charges as a result of the wiretapping scandal.

Zaev formed a viable coalition with several ethnic Albanian parties but President Ivanov refused to appoint him prime minister. A quarter of Macedonia's population is ethnic Albanian.

In 2001, that discontent almost threw the country into a civil war after Albanian rebels launched an uprising in which dozens died.

Ivanov's decision has been criticised by EU, NATO and USA officials.

The EU and the United States have urged Ivanov to reverse his decision, while Macedonia's opposition has warned its conservative rivals that they are playing with fire by using the ethnic card in a bid to stay in power.

Macedonia has been gripped by a deep political crisis for more than two years, and repeated efforts - including worldwide mediation - have failed to improve things.