Legislative violence
Grow, no stranger to legislative violence, described the precursors thus:[2]Crowd some hundreds of men together on a hot afternoon or night; fill them with the fire of partisan ardor; perplex them with doubt as to the personal gain or loss that may follow their vote on the question at issue, and instill them with envy of, and ill-will toward, their fellows, and you have abundant material for a row.
[7] On 20 November 2023, members of the opposition Democratic Party of Albania interrupted a parliamentary vote on the country's budget by lighting flares and piling chairs in the middle of the session hall as Prime Minister Edi Rama took his seat, causing a small fire that was immediately put out.
[8] On 30 September 2024, Democratic Party MPs shoved microphones, hurled objects at the seats of the speaker and ministers and burned chairs in protest over the conviction of lawmaker Ervin Salianji for slander.
[23] Draško Stanivuković, a prominent member of the PDP, was initially scolded by Milorad Dodik's right-wing SNSD-dominated club for various acts aimed at the government of Republika Srpska.
Following his statement, Lukač had asked Stanivuković, who had by now been walking around the National Assembly hall carrying hand-held NATO flags and distributing them to those present, to approach him, calling him an "ape" in the process.
This happened in the wake of events where the Bosnian three-men presidency had unanimously agreed to sign the Reform Program, which was widely speculated to be the undisclosed SMO agreement, which would allow Bosnia and Herzegovina to pursue full membership in NATO.
[28] Before a vote in the House of Commons, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau "manhandled" Conservative Party Opposition Whip Gord Brown and inadvertently elbowed NDP MP Ruth Ellen Brosseau.
[32] Member of Parliament Lubomír Volný [cs], leader of the far-right Unified – Alternative for Patriots, attacked Deputy Speaker Tomáš Hanzel during the debate on the extension of the state of emergency due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
[42] On 15 April 2024, during a debate over the controversial "foreign agents" bill, the leader of the ruling Georgian Dream party's parliamentary faction, Mamuka Mdinaradze, was punched in the face while speaking at the dispatch box by opposition MP Aleko Elisashvili.
[43] On 19 December 2024, lawmaker Adgur Kharazia fatally shot his colleague Vakhtang Golandzia and injured another MP, Kan Kvarchia, inside the People's Assembly of Abkhazia before escaping from the scene.
[44][45][46] On 10 March 1950, after having been expelled from the Bundestag for an anti-Semitic speech calling the resistance against Nazi Germany as traitors and general unruly behavior, Wolfgang Hedler [de] did not leave the building.
[48] In January 1988, a riot broke out in the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly over a vote of majority for V. N. Janaki, who was serving as Chief Minister following the death in December 1987 of her husband M. G. Ramachandran.
[72] A brawl broke out in the National Diet on 17 September 2015 after the House of Councillors approved legislation for the controversial security bills that would allow the country to send Japan Self-Defense Forces troops to fight abroad for the first time since World War II.
Members of the opposition Democratic Party of Japan tried to grab the microphone and stop Masahisa Sato, acting chairman of the upper house special committee, from carrying out the vote.
The focus of the fight was Asia Bibi, a woman saved from hanging by a ruling of the Supreme Court of Pakistan, which ordered her release after she spent eight years on death row for conviction under blasphemy laws.
[109] In September 2024, Representatives Rodante Marcoleta and Joseph Stephen Paduano made threatening gestures against each other before being restrained by other lawmakers during an argument over a House investigation into Vice President Sara Duterte.
In 1995, the Legislative Yuan was presented with the Ig Nobel Prize Peace Award, for "demonstrating that politicians gain more by punching, kicking and gouging each other than by waging war against other nations".
They raised large padded office chairs above their heads, surrounded the podium, and grappled with rival legislators to prevent Lin from presenting the report again as water balloons were thrown.
[citation needed] A debate on extending Russia's lease of the Sevastopol Naval Base in the Black Sea in exchange for a €30 billion discount on Russian natural gas descended into a mass brawl, involving smoke bombs, eggs and general fighting among members.
[194] Yuriy Boyko, of the centre-left Opposition Bloc, punched Oleh Lyashko in the face after the left-wing Radical Party member purportedly accused him of being a "Kremlin agent".
[199] During a dispute over the conduct of British Army soldiers on Bloody Sunday on the day before, Independent Socialist MP Bernadette Devlin punched the Conservative Party Home Secretary Reginald Maudling.
Her aggression was in response to the comments made by Maudling, who was maintaining that the 1st Battalion, Parachute Regiment had fired at the protesters in self-defence, contrary to the testimonies of civilian eyewitnesses (including Devlin herself).
In the aftermath of a rancorous debate with Labour MPs over the Aircraft and Shipbuilding Industries Bill, Conservative Michael Heseltine was enraged by a group who began singing The Red Flag.
Liz Truss resigned as leader of the Conservative Party the following day and was replaced as prime minister on 25 October 2022 by former Chancellor Rishi Sunak, after the shortest tenure in British political history.
[citation needed] Congressman Laurence M. Keitt of South Carolina was involved in another incident of legislative violence less than two years later, starting a massive brawl on the House floor during a tense late-night debate.
A large brawl involving approximately 50 representatives erupted on the House floor, ending only when a missed punch from Rep. Cadwallader Washburn of Wisconsin upended the hairpiece of Rep. William Barksdale of Mississippi.
"[217] During the final day of the 2007 regular session of the Alabama State Senate Republican Sen. Charles Bishop of Jasper punched Democratic Sen. Lowell Barron of Fyffe in the head after the latter allegedly called the former a "son of a bitch".
The incident occurred after Rinaldi called U.S Immigration and Customs Enforcement when a large crowd of protesters, in opposition to the sanctuary cities ban, disrupted the legislative proceedings.
Representative Poncho Nevárez, Democratic Party member, admitted to laying hands on Rinaldi amid the fierce debates, but no arrests were made by Texas DPS.
[223] Gaetz, alongside other members of the Freedom Caucus, had blocked Kevin McCarthy's speakership bid for four days by nominating and voting for other representatives,[224] which caused much tension in the House.
