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17 Dec, 2010 11:20

MPs go hardcore as fight breaks out in Ukrainian Parliament

MPs go hardcore as fight breaks out in Ukrainian Parliament

Depuites representing the ruling Party of the Regions came to blows with the opposition bloc (BYUT) on Thursday over the criminal charges brought against former prime minister and the current opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko.

A day after prosecutors filed the case, Tymoshenko supporters had blocked the work of Parliament and hung banners reading 'End Political Repression" around the assembly hall. Tymoshenko is being investigated over allegations of misuse of state funds. Trying to regain control scores of deputies from the pro-presidential Party of Regions stormed the presidium and forced opposition out of the parliament hall, using fists and throwing chairs around the chamber. As a result of an assault five MPs were seriously injured and taken to hospital – some with head and jaw injuries and one deputy was literally taken out on a stretcher. Around 40 members of the pro-government party were involved in the one minute scuffle,  while the oppostion only had 30 at hand. Following the brawl Yulia Timoshenko's Bloc has demanded justice for the incident. MPs from the Bloc are going "to appeal without fail to criminalists and to the corresponding bodies, specifically to the Prosecutor-General's Office, to call to account those who committed the crime." Deputy head of the the fraction added that they had material evidence at their disposal, including video records and photos, which prove the fact of "the ruthless beating up of MPs from our parliamentary faction".It's the third time Ukraine's parliament collapsed into chaos in the past year.  Eggs and fists were thrown in the chamber in April during a debate about extending the Russian navy's lease on a base.

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