A routine legislative session in Mexico City’s Congress spiraled into disorder when lawmakers crowded around the podium and a political dispute escalated into a physical confrontation.
On Monday, Dec. 15, members of the right-wing National Action Party moved to occupy the podium at the same time lawmakers from the governing, left-leaning Morena Party were already positioned there. The National Action Party lawmakers were protesting a recent decision to dissolve Mexico City’s transparency institute and shift its responsibilities to a government agency, according to CBS News and The Independent.
Tensions flared when National Action Party lawmakers accused Morena of failing to follow through on creating a replacement transparency body. What began as a standoff at the podium quickly turned confrontational.
Video from the scene captured a tightly packed group of legislators with little room to move. A dispute between two politicians appeared to spark a wider scuffle, pulling others nearby into a noisy sequence of shouting, pushing and even hair-pulling.
After the turbulent session, both parties publicly condemned the violence — while also blaming the other side for provoking it.
“What worries us a lot is how the opposition is systematically resorting to violence instead of arguments, in the absence of being able to debate,” said Paulo Garcia, a spokesman for the Moreno Party, per The Daily Beast.
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“We took the podium peacefully, without touching anyone, and the decision made by the majority legislative group and its allies was to try and regain control of the board through violence,” PAN aide Andres Atayde said at a press conference following the incident, according to a translation from the Economic Times.
PAN legislator Daniela Alvarez also criticized the confrontation, telling reporters, “Not only is it vulgar, not only is it aggressive, but it is lamentable that this is the majority governing party for this city.”
The Dec. 15 clash comes less than four months after another high-profile scuffle in Mexico’s Senate in August. In that incident, Senator Alejandro Moreno of the Institutional Revolutionary Party grabbed Gerardo Fernández Noroña, the Senate’s president, in an apparent attempt to gain speaking time. Moreno threw punches, per BBC, and a photographer who intervened was injured.
