Left-wing European lawmakers on Thursday refused to observe a moment of reflection for Charlie Kirk, the U.S. conservative activist shot dead during a college debate event in Utah on Wednesday, triggering a heated confrontation in the chamber in Strasbourg and leading to accusations of political bias.

Swedish MEP Charlie Weimers, of the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) group, had emailed European Parliament President Roberta Metsola to propose a minute of silence for Kirk, describing the gesture as symbolic and aimed at defending "our right to freedom of speech."

However, the request was rejected, with her spokesperson citing a bureaucratic rule that minutes of silence can only be declared at the opening of a plenary session, and as this session had started on Monday, he would have to wait until the next sitting in October.

Weimers was instead allowed to make a point of order before the voting session began. He opened by urging MEPs to "strongly condemn political violence and rhetoric that incites violence" and asked colleagues to "stand with me in a reflection of prayer in his honor." When he tried to yield the remainder of his time for a silent tribute, the session's chair, Katarina Barley of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats (S&D), cut him off.

"We have discussed this, and you know the president said no to a minute of silence," Barley said as conservative MEPs banged their desks and shouted in protest. Centrist and left-wing members applauded and whistled at Barley's intervention.

Hungarian MEP András László accused Barley of deliberately breaking the tribute: "The socialist chair deliberately started talking immediately."

Weimers later said in a social media video: "I wanted to honor the memory of conservative activist Charlie Kirk by yielding my time for a moment of reflection prayer. Unfortunately, the Social Democratic deputy speaker did not want to have that."

He captioned the clip: "How does holding a minute of silence for George Floyd but denying one for Charlie Kirk make sense?"

Polish MEP Dominik Tarczy?ski also lashed out, writing: "As conservatives, we requested a minute of silence in the European Parliament to honor Charlie Kirk. The left, calling themselves democrats, naturally refused. They are the same everywhere… Even in the face of death, they are incapable of showing human compassion. Therefore, I will organize an exhibition in the European Parliament commemorating Charlie Kirk. His legacy will bear fruit."