Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF, in red) party members of parliament are physically removed from the South African legislature after a brutal fistfight broke out on May 17, 2016. Security guards ejected opposition lawmakers in an ugly fracas that underlined heightened political tensions over Jacob Zuma’s presidency.
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Opposition lawmakers surround chairman Yoshitada Konoike (L) as lawmaker Masahisa Sato (2nd L) gestures during the Upper House's ad hoc committee meeting on the controversial security bills, at the National Diet in Tokyo on September 17, 2015. Japan's ruling and opposition parties remained deadlocked in parliament early on September 17 over proposed security bills as thousands took to the streets in protests against legislation that could see troops fight overseas for the first time in 70 years.
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Fists flew in a heated session of the Ukraine parliament this week after a move to increase military reserves and enlist male citizens under 50 to combat Russian forces on its border. It was a tumultuous stretch of days—the prime minister stepped down, two parties quit the coalition government, and international outrage continued to mount over the shoot-down of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17. But it’s far from the first time that elected officials got physical. Here, a look at a few other noteworthy eruptions that have seemed more like pro wrestling than the business of government.
Shown here, Ukrainian parliamentary deputies tussle during a session in parliament in Kiev on July 22, 2014.
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Opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislators scuffle with ruling Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers (top) at the Legislative Yuan in Taipei on July 8, 2010. Taiwan legislators threw objects, splashed water, and kicked one another, sending two to the hospital in a brawl over how fast to ratify a trade pact with China that was shaping up as a pivotal election issue.
Maybe these parties might want to get a room. Three years after the trade-pact brawl, Lin Hung-chih (L) from the ruling Nationalist Party (KMT) scuffled with Chiu Chih-wei from the opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) in Taipei on Aug. 2, 2013. The Taiwanese legislators faced a vote regarding the controversial construction of a nuclear power plant. The red banner reads, "Stop construction of the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant immediately."
You won’t see this in Roberts Rules of Order. Pro-democracy lawmaker Leung Kwok-hung threw a cloud-shaped cushion at Hong Kong Financial Secretary John Tsang to demand a universal retirement protection scheme during the annual budget report on Feb. 27, 2013.
Bad blood spilled previously in Ukraine’s parliament. Deputies fought during a session in Kiev on Feb. 21, 2014, after the speaker declared a pause, delaying a debate on a possible resolution calling for President Viktor Yanukovich’s powers to be reduced.
Members of the Somali parliament fight after the majority voted against Speaker of the Parliament Sharif Hassan Sheikh Aden (not pictured) in southern Mogadishu, on Dec. 21, 2011. A total of 287 out of the 290 legislators attending the session voted against the speaker.
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Ali Ihsan Kokturk’s nose bleeds after MPs from the ruling AK Party (AKP) and his main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) scuffled during a debate on a draft law that would give the Turkish government tighter control over the appointment of judges and prosecutors, in Ankara on Feb. 15, 2014.
No love lost in Ukraine. Opposition deputies threw buckwheat at newly elected deputy Viktor Pylypyshyn (R) as he took the oath in the Ukrainian parliament in Kiev on Jan. 15, 2014. The Svoboda (Freedom) nationalist party blamed Pylypyshyn for what they said were unfair elections. In Ukraine, buckwheat is a symbol of bribing voters.
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Members of parliament scuffle with colleagues elected from their party but later refused to join a faction, at the first session of the newly elected Ukrainian parliament in Kiev on December 12, 2012.
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Lawmaker Kim Sun-dong (C) of the Democratic Labour Party struggled with security guards after he detonated a tear-gas canister toward the chairman’s seat to try to stop the ruling Grand National Party’s move to ratify a bill on a free-trade agreement with the U.S., at the National Assembly in Seoul, South Korea, on Nov. 22, 2011.
Turkey’s ruling AK Party (AKP) lawmaker Muhittin Aksak (R) and main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) lawmaker Mahmut Tanal (L) scuffle during a debate at the parliament in Ankara on Feb. 8, 2012.
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