You would have thought it was a bar fight scene off a movie clip except that those throwing punches and bottles are members of the Turkish parliament. A member of parliament stood on a table and launched a flying kick, while other parliament members wrestled and punched each other.
According to a Reuters correspondent who was there at the scene, "document folders, plastic water bottles and even an iPad flying through the air."
Before the scuffle members of parliament were gathering to discuss a draft bill recommended by Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan's AK Party to give it more say over the judiciary. However, the fight erupted when a representative of a judicial association arrived with a petition and argued that the bill was anti-constitutional, but was not allowed to speak, witnesses said.
"If I am being kicked at here as a representative of the judiciary, all prosecutors and judges will be trampled on when this law passes," Omer Faruk Eminagaoglu, head of the YARSAV professional association, told Reuters after the ruckus.
Ahmet Hamsici, one of Turkey's most senior legal figures and deputy chairman of the High Council of Judges and Prosecutors (HSYK), joined the opposition and criticized the Prime Minister Erdogan's recommendation. He warned that the AK Party proposal would breach the basic constitutional principle of the separation of powers.
"The AKP is trying to make its fascist regulation through violence. We won't allow this," Muslim Sari, an MP for the main opposition party, CHP, told MSN News, Sari said an iPad had been thrown at him during the scuffles.
The recommended draft bill to empower the AKP is Erdogan's attempt to sidetrack a corruption investigation against him. His party wants the draft bill passed so that they can control choices over judges and prosecutors.
Outside parliament, more than 10,000 people attended a rally that was organized by a labor union to denounce corruption. They waved placards with slogans including "Bye Bye Tayyip" and "Tayyip's money is safe in shoe boxes", which is a reference to TV images of hoards of cash that were found in suspects' homes during the investigation.
Some of the protesters handed out fake dollar bills with Erdogan's image.
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