A parliamentarian began to pray our father
The application, submitted by a right -wing parliamentarian, was rejected for protocol reasons.
September 19, 2025.-When a Swedish right-wing deputy of the European Parliament on Thursday asked the legislative body to dedicate a “moment of prayer and reflection” in honor of Charlie Kirk, the American political activist killed the previous day, the request was quickly denied, the times of New York reported.
In a plenary session on Thursday, deputy Charlie Weimers gave his time after commenting on Mr. Kirk and asked others present in the Chamber to join him for the minute of silence. But Katarina Barley, vice president of the European Parliament who presided over the session, intervened quickly and denied her application, citing the protocol.
“Mr. Weimers, we are talking about this, and you know that the President has denied the request of a minute of silence,” he said.
Many deputies of Parliament soon began hitting their desks and shouting in protest.
“Dear colleagues, I gladly explained it again,” said Mrs. Barley in response to clamor. “The decision to keep a minute of silence is prerogative of the president.” The parliamentary regulation establishes that political groups must request a moment of silence at the beginning of the session. The president must also announce that moment at the beginning of the plenary session.
Mr. Kirk, who received a deadly shot during an event at a Utah University on Wednesday, was a right -wing activist with deep political ties in the United States, including President Trump. It was considered an outstanding voice among conservative hard line activists.
In the United States House of Representatives President Mike Johnson interrupted a series of voting on Wednesday and asked members to stand up for “a moment of prayer for Charlie Kirk and his family.” The entire camera agreed, but the legislators turned to a shouting discussion shortly after.
On Thursday, many political leaders from all over Europe cried Mr. Kirk as a martyr.
“The murder of Charlie Kirk is a tragedy and a sample of the absolute despair and cowardice of those who could not defeat him in the discussion,” published Boris Johnson, former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, in social networks.
Hungarian prime minister, Viktor Orban, described Mr. Kirk as “a true defender of faith and freedom.” The European Group of Sovereign Nations, a political group of the extreme right, proposed to nominate Mr. Kirk for the Sájarov Award, a tribute to his work in defense of human rights.
An earlier version of this article erroneously attributed actions to the president of the European Parliament, Roberta Metsola. It was Katarina Barley, vice president of the European Parliament, who denied a request of a minute of silence.
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