Brawl erupts in parliament as prime minister is hauled from podium by his crotch

A politician picked up his prime minister and dragged him from the podium as fighting broke out in the Ukraine parliament on Friday. Oleh Barna walked over to Arseny Yatseniuk as he was defending his government’s record before presenting him sarcastically with a bunch of red roses. Mr Barna then grabbed him around the waist and groin, lifting him off his feet and dragging him from the rostrum. Members of Mr Yatseniuk’s People Front party waded in, pushing Mr Barna and throwing punches. In response, members of president Petro Poroshenko’s bloc joined the fray and an angry brawl ensued for several minutes before deputies returned to their seats.

The atmosphere in the room provoked mentally unbalanced people. Oleh Barna served on the frontline and is therefore too impulsive, but that does not excuse his actions.

Yuriy Lutsenko, leader of Petro Poroshenko’s supporters

The brawl exposed deep divisions in the pro-Europe coalition which is struggling to meet demands to root out endemic corruption and cronyism. It came during a question-and-answer session with 41-year-old Mr Yatseniuk, whose government has been in power for a year and is now no longer immune from being dismissed by parliament. Mr Yatseniuk told parliament: "You have full constitutional right to vote on the question of dismissing Ukraine’s cabinet. Put it to the vote. I’ll accept the decision of the Ukrainian parliament. I’m not clinging to this chair.“ Opposition parties are calling for a no-confidence motion to be tabled and commentators say enough votes could be gathered to dismiss the government.

I told you a year ago that nobody is going to promise the moon.

Prime minister Arseny Yatseniuk

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