Mr Barna pulled Mr Yatsenyuk to the side of the rostrum and then grabbed him around the waist and groin, hoisting him into the air, before the premier’s allies dashed through the chamber to help, punching his assailant and hauling him away.
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Oleg Barna, a lawmaker from President Petro Poroshenko’s faction, removes Prime Minister Arseny Yatsenyuk from the podium, after sarcastically presenting him a bouquet of roses, during the parliament session in Kiev, Ukraine, December 11, 2015.
Another brawl in the Ukrainian parliament, days after US Vice President Joe Biden’s visit.
The brawl comes at a hard moment in Ukraine as the country continues its efforts to implement political and economic reforms to keep it on track to receive bailout funds from the International Monetary Fund. The conflict in Eastern Ukraine that has pitted government troops against Russian-backed separatists continues with the United Nations reporting this week that more than 9,000 people have been killed and more than 20,000 injured.
Barna has been collecting signatures for the resignation of the highly unpopular Yatsenyuk. “I will accept the decision of the Ukrainian parliament, I am not holding on to this post”, Yatseniuk told a government meeting in the parliament on Friday, according to the Kyviv Post.
Ukraine must still pass laws on critical tax and budget bills as well as on judicial issues in order to receive some $4 billion in global loans.
Mr Barna was swiftly expelled from his party, but defended his actions.
In the October 2014 parliamentary elections, the Petro Poroshenko Bloc won 143 MPs, while the People’s Front won 83.
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A brawl ensued after which the Poroshenko bloc’s leader Yuriy Lutsenko apologised to the prime minister.
