House: Sipos Escorted Out of Chamber by Security Over his T-shirt

Bratislava, October 2 (TASR) - Head of 'Slovakia' party caucus Michal Sipos was expelled out of the parliamentary chamber on Wednesday by security as the first lawmaker ever in history, at the behest of House Vice-chair Tibor Gaspar (Smer-SD), after Sipos refused to put a blazer over his T-shirt. In Gaspar's view, Sipos violated the Rules of Procedure, as Gaspar perceived his T-shirt as a banned visual display. Sipos had: "They Increased Salaries For Themselves, Taxes for People" written on the front of his T-shirt. Gaspar claimed that Sipos could have remedied his inappropriate apparel by putting on his blazer over it, but he refused to do so. A parliamentary gremium held a session after the expulsion of the lawmaker. Sipos argued that other lawmakers had been allowed to deliver speeches last week, even though their laptops had been adorned with stickers. [After liberal MP Lucia Plavakova (PS) was expelled from the chamber for having a heart-shaped rainbow sticker reading "Inclusion Zone" on her laptop, SaS MP Alojz Hlina delivered a speech with a sticker of a Christian cross on his laptop and didn't get expelled - ed.note]. Because of this, Sipos wanted to speak in his T-shirt. He added that he had had no opportunity to comment on the consolidation package because of the time restrictions the coalition has placed on the debate. "I've had no opportunity to speak in a fast-tracked procedure because they cut the debate short. I've had no opportunity to make a comment in the first reading because they limited the time and I didn't get my turn," he told journalists. "I wanted to make a comment on the consolidation, with which Fico's government plans to siphon €2.7 billion out of people's pockets. And I wasn't allow to speak, only because there's truth emblazoned on my T-shirt and despite the fact that there's no specification whatsoever in the Rules of Procedure on how a lawmaker should dress in the Chamber," added Sipos. mf/mcs