Ukrainian Deputies Throw Punches In Parliament

A brawl broke out in the Ukrainian parliament on March 19 between members of the ruling Party of Regions and the opposition Svoboda (Freedom) party during the first session of parliament in nearly a month. The fighting erupted when Svoboda members booed Oleksandr Yefremov, the parliamentary leader of President Viktor Yanukovych’s Party of Regions, for making a speech in Russian. Yefremov responded by calling the opposition members “neo-fascists,” according to news reports. (Video by Dmytro Bakar, RFE/RL’s Ukrainian Service)