Venezuela’s Brawl Is the Latest Edition of Parliament Fight Club

[Time]

The first rule of Parliament Fight Club is try not to be among the opposition. On the evening of April 30, members of Venezuela's political opposition, including a former presidential candidate, were apparently roughed up by representatives backing President Nicolas Maduro, heir to the legacy of late socialist supremo Hugo Chávez. The disputed fallout of recent elections led to a heated showdown in the nation's legislature; the event was not broadcast on state television. Cell phone footage of the clash emerged, showing windbreaker-clad security guards wading into the aisles and throwing punches at seemingly defenseless politicians. The incident, though, is hardly unique to Venezuela. Here's only a recent sampling of incidents when democracy truly gets messy. Ukraine, March 2013 Members of Ukraine's Parliament are known to throw down, and this particular fistfight from March 2013 is a fine example. After reportedly calling each other "neo-fascists" and booing a party leader for speaking in Russian, things got a bit, well, take a look. Ukraine, May 2011 From a scrum to one-on-one combat: the Ukrainian Parliament's vice speaker Adam Martynyuk began choking Oleg Lyashko, a deputy, after Martynyuk refused to let Lyashko make a speech. Israel, January 2012 OK, time to cool off. During a televised debate in January 2012, Israeli-Arab MP Raleb Majadele told his counterpart, Anastassia Michaeli, to shut up. After a brief shouting match, she walked over to him, poured a glass of water and tossed it his way before storming off. Argentina, November 2010 Here's another parting shot. Lawmaker Graciela Camaño slaps Carlos Kunkel, a colleague of hers, in the face after his comments about her husband's political career. Afghanistan, July 2011 Following a discussion of rocket attacks from Pakistan, General Nazifa Zaki, an ex-Army general, threw one of her shoes at another member of Parliament, Hamida Ahmadzai. Somalia, December 2011 Three lawmakers needed medical assistance after a brawl between Somali lawmakers in January 2012. Judging from this battle a few weeks earlier, when Parliament members were voting on a new speaker, it's clear why. South Korea, November 2011 During a vote on

Via: TIME GlobalSpin