The session of the Kisela Voda municipal council ended with a request for security. A verbal conflict between Levica councillor Petar Zdravevski, council chairwoman Svetlana Kolarić and mayor Beti Stamenkoska Trajkoska escalated into mutual accusations of threats and violence.

Sharp exchanges started at the very beginning of the debate. Things boiled over when the mayor accused Zdravevski of making threats. The councillor rejected the accusations and asked that the public not be manipulated. Raised voices followed, along with remarks about his conduct and body language, and a call for the councillor to calm down.

A further row broke out when the councillor's family was mentioned. Zdravevski asked that his father not be brought into it, after which came an argument over who had mentioned him in the first place.

At one point Zdravevski got up from his seat and headed towards the part of the hall where the council chairwoman was sitting.

"I am asking for security, he is threatening me. I am asking for security and for Petar to leave," Kolarić said.

Zdravevski returned to his seat after a short while, but the tension continued. Kolarić later requested that security be hired for future sessions.

"The Council really cannot function with violent people," she said.

"What violent person, do not accuse me, hello," Zdravevski shot back.

What it means when a council asks for security against itself

Everyone in this scene was elected. None of them is a passer-by - all three hold a mandate given by the citizens of Kisela Voda, and all three sit in a room whose only function is to make decisions for the municipality.

Which means the agenda went unfinished while the argument about who threatened whom played out. The decisions that were supposed to be made were not made, for this reason.

The two sides tell the story differently, and that is predictable - one says these were threats, the other says this was an attempt to throw a councillor out of a session. Who is right will be established if somebody files a complaint.

What needs no establishing is that a council body requiring physical security in order to function has already stopped functioning. And that the bill for it is not paid by the people who shouted, but by the citizens whose issues are now waiting for the next session.