Brawl Erupts in Armenia's Parliament, and the Prime Minister Calls a Thrown Chair 'Proportionate and Right'

Lawmakers traded punches on the floor of Armenia's parliament Thursday, and a deputy speaker from the ruling party threw a chair at the opposition. Hours later, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said he welcomed what his side did.

"Whether with a chair or something else, it is proportionate and right," Pashinyan told reporters, according to the state news agency Armenpress. "I condemn violence, but I support the measures taken by the Civil Contract faction today, because being in the opposition does not mean that one should become insolent."

How it started

The session was supposed to be routine: a vote to fill a seat on the Audit Chamber, the state's spending watchdog. During the debate, Civil Contract lawmaker Taron Chakhoyan took shots at the opposition. He called one opposition member "the assistant of Manvel who stole canned meat," PAN.am reported, and then turned to the family of Narek Karapetyan, who leads the opposition Strong Armenia faction.

Chakhoyan said Karapetyan's cousin had never apologized for saying before the June election that, if they won, they would set up a separate "ministry to satisfy women." Karapetyan started shouting from his seat, then walked toward the podium. Within seconds, members of both parties were swinging.

Deputy Speaker Vahagn Aleksanyan of Civil Contract threw a chair at opposition lawmakers, the Yerevan outlet News.am reported. Speaker Ruben Rubinyan watched for several minutes before calling a recess and sending for security. The shouting carried on into the hallway.

By the time it was over, opposition lawmaker Andranik Gevorgyan had a bloody nose, another opposition member's clothes were torn, and an ambulance had pulled up to the parliament, News.am reported.

Each side blames the other

When the session resumed, Rubinyan put it all on the opposition. "During the break, I watched all the footage and listened carefully to Taron Chakhoyan's speech. I did not identify a single offensive remark in it," he said. "Mr. Karapetyan, you are primarily responsible for what happened. You started this brawl by interrupting a lawmaker's speech."

Armenia's own human rights ombudsman, Anahit Manasyan, did not let the ruling party off so easily. Her office said parliament should be a place for debate, not a "battlefield," and demanded that "any speech justifying violence" be ruled out, a line that cuts against the prime minister's defense. "The incident must be properly investigated," the statement said.

So far it hasn't been. The prosecutor general's office told Sputnik Armenia there is "no information about any criminal proceedings," PAN.am reported.

Why it matters

Pashinyan's party won 64 of 105 seats in June's election, a solid majority but short of the two-thirds it needs to rewrite the constitution on its own. Strong Armenia, the bloc of Russian-Armenian businessman Samvel Karapetyan, came second with 29 seats.

Leaders usually try to calm things down after lawmakers come to blows. Pashinyan did the opposite. He said he placed "full responsibility" on the opposition and added, "Yes, I welcome the actions of Civil Contract faction MPs."

The lawmakers went back to work the same afternoon and filled the Audit Chamber seat they had been fighting over.