Mexico City lawmakers pull hair, trade blows during debate

MEXICO CITY: A group of women legislators in the Congress of Mexico City got into a physical fight Monday, with cameras broadcasting the brawl live as they pulled each other’s hair and traded blows.

The fight broke out after a group of women from the right-wing National Action Party (PAN) approached the legislature’s main podium in protest of a rule allegedly broken by the leftist Morena party, which has a majority in the legislature.

The debate involved reforming the city government’s transparency oversight agency, according to local media reports.

Video from the incident shows at least five lawmakers from both parties arguing intensely, with members elbowing, slapping, and pulling each other’s hair in an attempt by Morena lawmakers to physically remove the PAN members from the podium, despite their refusal to move.

“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,” Andres Atayde, an aide for the PAN representatives, told a press conference after the incident.

Daniela Alvarez, one of the PAN lawmakers who approached the podium, told 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.”

After the fight, the PAN lawmakers left the chamber and the Morena majority resumed the debate without the opposition party present, according to reports posted to the Congress of Mexico City’s social media.

“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,” Morena spokesman Paulo Garcia later told broadcaster Milenio.