Speaker urges calm after Ukrainian parliament brawl

Dec 17, 2010, 20:29 GMT

Kiev - Tempers in Ukraine's national parliament the Verhovna Rada were still flaring on Friday in the wake of a massive brawl which left five parliamentarians hospitalised and dozens with cuts and bruises.

'We should be ashamed of ourselves,' said Speaker Volodymyr Litvin as he opened the Friday session. 'How can we teach our children love of democracy and our country with such behaviour?'

Members for the pro-Russia Regions of Ukraine party came to blows with members for the populist Motherland party on Thursday evening, with an estimated 70 deputies participating in the brawl.

The Motherland party, currently in the opposition, is headed by former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko. Its members had been physically preventing use of voting equipment as a protest to alleged government persecution of Tymoshenko.

The Regions of Ukraine party, currently controlling a majority, is headed by President Viktor Yanukovych. His government has, as part of an anti-corruption campaign, opened an investigation into Tymosheko's possible misuse of some 260 million dollars of government funds during 2009 while still in office.

The Regions deputies used superior weight and numbers to force the Motherland deputies away from the speaker's lectern and adjacent voting equipment in a five-minute battle.

'We asked that they lift the blockade,' said Regions member Vladislav Sabarsky. 'But since they did not react, we had to drive them out by force.'

Thursday evening television images showed the elected officials from both sides employing fists, shoes, chairs and swearing during the fight. Two participants later were carried out of the chamber on stretchers.

'They were like animals,' wrote Motherland member Andriy Shevchenko in Friday Twitter comments. 'Next time they will come with knives.'

Litvin prior to opening Friday debate with a display of crowbars, padlocks, and clubs he said he had discovered stashed in the desks of some parliament members.

President Yanukovych in comments to Unian called for legislative calm telling the Unian news agency 'Unfortunately this problem (brawls in parliament) exists in Ukraine ... the time has come for our politicians to raise their level of political culture.'