RECENT POLITICAL BRAWLS THAT PUT CANADA’S TO SHAME
SOUTH AFRICA
On Monday, a fist-fight broke out in South African parliament as members of the left-wing Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) party tried to prevent president Jacob Zuma of the ruling African National Congress from making an address. During the protest, security guards forcibly removed 20 members of the EFF party. It was the second confrontation to take place in two weeks. Tensions have been on the rise since court decisions were made against Zuma earlier this year. The country’s highest court found that he violated the constitution by spending millions in government funds on his private residence.
TURKEY
Earlier this month, tensions erupted in Turkey’s parliament as committees debated a bill to strip deputies of immunity from prosecution. Members of the ruling AK Party and the pro-Kurdish People’s Democratic Party (HDP) battled it out over the bill, which the opposition said was intended to target them. The legislation called for stripping 128 lawmakers of immunity. Although members exchanged punches, traded kicks and threw water bottles at each other before the bill could pass, it was subsequently approved.
IRAQ
Last month, Iraqi parliament descended into chaos as lawmakers clashed and threw water bottles at one another. The fight broke out during an overnight emergency sit-in, where members were protesting the postponement of a vote to name the country’s new cabinet. A petition signed by more than 100 members of parliament called for the resignations of Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, President Fouad Massoum and the speaker. Speaker Salim al-Jubouri responded to the petition by asking Massoum to dissolve the assembly, raising the possibility of early elections.
KOSOVO
In February, opposition lawmakers in Kosovo’s parliament released multiple canisters of tear gas in protest of a deal to grant the country’s ethnic Serb minority more power in local government. The deal was brokered in August between Kosovo lawmakers and the governments of neighbouring Serbia and Montenegro. Police officers entered the building and escorted the opposition out. That incident was a step above one in September when, according one report,“some lawmakers pelted Prime Minister Isa Mustafa with eggs, forcing him to use an umbrella as a shield.”