By: Peter Jančič (Spletni časopis)
“Please, please. Peace in the chamber. Please leave immediately from… I am interrupting the session for five minutes to remove them from the balcony. I am interrupting the session for five minutes.”
This is how, due to protests on the balcony above the hall of the National Assembly, where a group of visitors waved Palestinian flags and shouted loudly, the President of the National Assembly, Urška Klakočar Zupančič, had to briefly interrupt the session before questions from the members of parliament to Prime Minister Robert Golob, so that security could remove the protesters who were disrupting the work of the parliament. By asking “Where is security?” during the interruption, she also showed dissatisfaction with the inefficiency of the security service, which did not quickly prevent the protests. The security of the parliament is the responsibility of the police, which falls under the government. These were already the second protests in the National Assembly for foreign causes in a short period of time.
The leader of the SDS parliamentary group, Jelka Godec, when the session of the assembly resumed after the break, demanded explanations about who invited the protesters into the chamber because this was already the second similar unusual event. It is known that the Levica and Gibanje Svoboda parties advocate for the recognition of the state of Palestine in parliament. Godec pointed out that access control to the National Assembly is so strict that even three members of parliament had difficulties entering the parliament in the last month because they forgot their official cards, and the security guard was not willing to let them in. When I checked which MPs these were, I found out that the leader of the NSI parliamentary group, Jožef Horvat, SDS MP Anja Bah Žibert, and even the Vice President of the National Assembly, Danijel Krivec, were among them.
Godec asked: “Who let the protesters into the National Assembly on the balcony, because all MPs who want to have visitors in the National Assembly, as well as others, must announce the names, surnames, and details of these visitors, say where they are going, where they will move, and basically, they cannot move around the National Assembly independently. So, someone brought them to the balcony. I am interested, and I kindly ask you to obtain information about which employee or MP invited the protesters to the National Assembly, allowed this to happen, and, how you will fulfil what you wanted, that such things will not happen again. Last time you said that the security of the MPs is taken care of. Apparently not. Last time there was a silent protest, today there was a loud protest, the question is what will happen next…” Among other things, Godec also pointed out:
“In the last month or in the previous days, it happened that MPs were not allowed through the secured gates because they forgot their card at home, I think there were three cases, and the security guard simply did not let the MP into the National Assembly.”
Godec spoke about instances where members of parliament encountered difficulties entering through the rear doors on Tomšičeva Street, which are not intended for the public, a topic that had previously been discussed at a meeting of the National Assembly’s collegiate body.
Klakočar Zupančič responded by stating that there will be a working consultation among the leaders of parliamentary groups regarding these security issues in the parliament. Such working consultations are held behind closed doors. Klakočar Zupančič further explained that the protests today (March 25th) were not announced in advance; the protesters came to observe the parliamentary session, which is open, and according to Klakočar Zupančič, it was not possible to prevent this.