Fighting has broken out and smoke bombs been thrown inside Ukraine's parliament amid massive public protests in Kiev. Thousands furious at a recent naval deal with neighbours Russia stormed the capital's streets, blocking roads and setting up tents around the Verkhovna Rada building.
Clashes then erupted inside after the parliament's speaker was egged from an unknown assailant during a session ratifying the controversial deal. Volodymr Lytvyn took cover behind two black umbrellas after the pelting, before smoke from two hurled bombs billowed inside the chamber.
Parliament cameras showed representatives punching, shoving and pulling each others' hair as the white haze descended. A scramble then emerged for ownership of a giant yellow and blue national flag in the middle of the room as alarms sounded.
Remarkably, order in the notoriously fractious parliament was restored, although some disquiet could still be heard.
3 comments:
Now that's passionate politics!
Here in my country passion in politics is a blonded coif that throws some dirt and a -former- Prime Minister that looks like the little brother of Harry Potter - Yeeey....
:-D
don't forget to consider belgium in these stories : we're not doing any better lately....
It's fascinating how the parliaments in different countries are so different. The kind of chaos that seems to be almost the norm in some places would be unthinkable here in the land of serious and boring. The incident of the forcible removal from the podium in the 70's of a populist politician who simply refused to stop talking after his time was up is still remembered as something extraordinary and unique. MPs throwing eggs at the speaker could simply not happen here.
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