The Latest: US Embassy ready to work with Macedonia speaker

The embassy statement said a majority of lawmakers elected Talat Xhaferi, a lawmaker from an ethnic Albanian party, as parliament speaker.

Scores of protesters in the capital broke through a police cordon and rushed into parliament on Thursday to protest the election of a new speaker despite a months-long deadlock in talks to form a new government.

One-fourth of Macedonia's population is ethnic Albanian, and coalition talks to form a new government broke down over ethnic Albanian demands that Albanian be recognized as an official second language.

Albania's government called on "political leaders to show restraint and avoid rhetoric that could further escalate the tense situation."

A Macedonian opposition leader was among the lawmakers attacked when protesters stormed the country's parliament building.

A spokesman for an ethnic Albanian party, Artan Grubi of the Democratic Union for Integration party, says Zaev and at least three other lawmakers were injured during the attack on Thursday night.

Scores of protesters in Macedonia have broken through a police cordon and entered parliament to protest the election of a new speaker despite a months-long deadlock in talks to form a new government.

Macedonia has been without a government since December, with the long-governing conservative and rival Social Democrats split over whether to consider ethnic minority party demands to make Albanian an official second language throughout the country.