The demonstrators were angry over Thursday's election by lawmakers of a new parliament speaker despite a months-old deadlock in efforts to form a new government. Greece's Foreign Ministry says it is concerned that neighboring Macedonia may be "sliding into deep political crisis" following attacks on politicians by protesters who swarmed into parliament. A ministry statement issued late Thursday expresses "sadness and concern" at the assault on parliament and calls on Macedonia's political rivals to show a "spirit of compromise and collaboration." Police in Macedonia's capital have fired flash grenades and clashed with protesters gathered in front of the country's parliament, leaving several people injured. The embassy statement said a majority of lawmakers elected Talat Xhaferi, a lawmaker from an ethnic Albanian party, as parliament speaker. Scores of protesters in the capital broke through a police cordon and rushed into parliament on Thursday to protest the election of a new speaker despite a months-long deadlock in talks to form a new government. One-fourth of Macedonia's population is ethnic Albanian, and coalition talks to form a new government broke down over ethnic Albanian demands that Albanian be recognized as an official second language. A Macedonian opposition leader was among the lawmakers attacked when protesters stormed the country's parliament building. A spokesman for an ethnic Albanian party, Artan Grubi of the Democratic Union for Integration party, says Zaev and at least three other lawmakers were injured during the attack on Thursday night. Scores of protesters in Macedonia have broken through a police cordon and entered parliament to protest the election of a new speaker despite a months-long deadlock in talks to form a new government. Macedonia has been without a government since December, with the long-governing conservative and rival Social Democrats split over whether to consider ethnic minority party demands to make Albanian an official second language throughout the country.
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