December 03, 2017 - 1:37 PM
SKOPJE, Macedonia - About 1,500 supporters of Macedonia's conservative opposition party have held a demonstration to demand the release of 22 people arrested for alleged involvement in a violent disruption of a parliament session.
The VMRO_DPMNE party's leader, former Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski, told participants at Sunday night's protest the arrests were "unjust" and demanded "freedom for patriots."
The public prosecutor's office has charged 36 people over the April storming of parliament, which resulted in injuries to more than 100 people. They have been charged with posing a "terrorist threat to the constitutional order and security," which carries a minimum 10-year prison sentence.
Macedonia's parliament stripped the immunity of six conservative opposition lawmakers on Friday after a prosecutor demanded they be held for 30 days for allegedly taking part in the incident.
News from © The Associated Press, 2017