SOFIA, Bulgaria _ Protesters stormed the Parliament building in the Republic of Macedonia, police and party officials said, injuring dozens of people as a 5-month-old political crisis spiraled into violence.
Scores of demonstrators forced their way into the legislature after the opposition Social Democrats and parties representing ethnic Albanians elected a Parliament speaker in a vote that former Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski's party refused to recognize. A spokeswoman for the Social Democrats said the party's leader, Zoran Zaev, was injured, along with Ziadin Sela, a member of the Alliance of Albanians.
"There is total chaos," police spokesman Toni Angelovski said by phone from Skopje, the capital, on Thursday. "There are injured, dozens of injured."
The former Yugoslav state of 2 million people has struggled to find a way out of political deadlock after Gruevski failed to form a coalition government following an inconclusive snap vote. Gruevski's ally, President Gjorge Ivanov, has refused to give a mandate to Zaev, who says he can form a majority-backed government with the ethnic-Albanian parties.
"The situation is critical," said Social Democrat member Kalinka Gaber. "The police let in the protesters and didn't stop them when they started beating up the deputies."
Sela was taken to hospital, she said. She posted pictures on Facebook showing Zaev and Sela bleeding from their heads.
At least 10 policemen were hurt as they helped evacuate some 30 lawmakers, the police in Skopje said in an email.
Ivanov invited the country's political leaders to meet on Friday to discuss ways out of the crisis, he said in televised statement in Skopje.
"No one from abroad can solve the problems if we can't solve them in line with the state interests of the Republic of Macedonia," Ivanov said.
The European Commission and the U.S. condemned the violence and welcomed the parties' election of Talat Xhaferi as speaker of Parliament.
"We will work with him to support democracy and to advance the interests of Macedonia," the U.S. Embassy in Skopje said on Facebook. The violence in Parliament "is not consistent with democracy and is not an acceptable way to resolve differences. It is critical all parties respect democratic processes and the law, and refrain from violent actions which exacerbate the situation."
European Union Commissioner Johannes Hahn appealed to Ivanov to give Zaev and his potential coalition partners a mandate to form a Cabinet. The former Yugoslav republic is a candidate for EU membership.
"We condemn in the strongest terms today's ongoing attacks on the members of the Parliament in Skopje," the European Commission said in a statement. "The Interior Ministry and the police must ensure the security of the Parliament and its members."
Gruevski, whose party ally Emil Dimitriev is acting as interim prime minister until a new government is formed, said on Facebook that "violence isn't the answer."
"People need to calm down," he said. He added that his party "will oppose the anti-government actions of the Social Democrats with legal and political democratic measures."
