Incident in Plenary Hall House of Representatives – all meetings of Thursday 22 March cancelled

22 March 2018

On Thursday March 22 at approximately 12 noon, an incident happened on the public gallery of the Plenary Hall at the House of Representatives. A man jumped down onto the floor of the Hall from the public gallery. Police officers, security personnel and emergency response officers were quickly at the scene. The victim was transported to hospital by ambulance for treatment.

In a message to her fellow Members of Parliament, the President of the House, Ms. Khadija Arib described the incident as horrible. She greatly appreciates the people that were in the Plenary Hall at the time of the incident. Ms. Arib: “I would like to stress that due to the commendable behavior of numerous people at the scene, a situation that could have been much worse has been prevented”.

In close consultation with the parliamentary parties, the President has decided to cancel all plenary meetings of Thursday March 22. The voting session that was on the agenda has been postponed to Tuesday March 29. All other meetings that were on Thurday's agenda will be rescheduled to another date.