In the sitting room of the Armenian parliament, deputies from the ruling Civil Contract party kicked and punched a member of the opposition Armenia bloc Vahe Hakobyan.

The situation became even more tense, the rest of the deputies also began to hit each other. The staff of the State Security Service entered the hall.

The National Assembly (NA) of Armenia has resumed its session Wednesday after a long recess.

Today’s parliamentary debates on the program of the new government were interrupted due to a scuffle between the pro-government and opposition MPs.

The situation in the NA had sharply escalated Wednesday during the speech of ruling "Civil Contract" Faction MP Hayk Sargsyan. In his remarks, Sargsyan stated that the defense ministers during whose tenure people were exempt from military service either by bribery or a telephone "call" were traitors to the homeland. Then the opposition and the pro-government lawmakers threw water bottles at each other. Subsequently, they began shoving each other, the security officers were called in, the live broadcast from the NA was cut off, and a recess was announced. But the MPs did not calm down even during this recess, and therefore another recess was announced for about an hour.