Ukraine parliament brawl: Man gives PM flowers then picks him up by his crotch

It is not the first time a scuffle has broken out in the Ukrainian parliament

Jess Staufenberg
Friday 11 December 2015 16:59 GMT
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Attack on Ukrainian PM

An MP caused a brawl in the Ukrainian parliament when he handed the prime minister a bunch of red roses and then tried to forcibly remove him from his podium by lifting him up by the crotch.

Oleh Barna, who belongs to the dominant Petro Poroshenko Bloc 'Solidarity', is shown attacking the embattled prime minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk, who heads the smaller People's Front, in a parliamentary video.

Mr Yatsenyuk was defending his government's record in an annual statement, at the same time as hundreds of people had taken to the streets of Kiev to demand he resigned from his position, Sputnik News reported.

And after the prime minister reportedly blamed the country's energy crisis on a Poroshenko Bloc member, Mr Barna appeared to lose his temper, according to the Kiev Post.

The coalition partner MP approached the prime minister, handed him flowers, grabbed him round the waist and then lifted him up off his feet with one arm through his legs.

Members of Mr Yatsenyuk's party then ran forward, attempting to restrain Mr Barna who appeared to fight back.

The MP, a former physics teacher, has been collecting signatures for the Mr Yatsenyuk's resignation since November, the Kiev Post reported.

“Not only Yatsenyuk but his entire Cabinet should be dismissed,” Mr Barna told journalists on 30 November.

The Petro Poroshenko Bloc said Yatsenyuk will not be dismissed until after the government passes a new budget and tax reform.

In the October 2014 parliamentary elections, the Petro Poroshenko Bloc won 143 MPs, while the People's Front won 83.

It is not the first time there have been fights in the Ukrainian parliament, with a scuffle breaking out in December 2014, according to ABC.

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