I place full responsibility on the opposition, I welcome the actions of the “Civil Contract” Faction MPs and express my support to them. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan on Thursday stated this to reporters, referring to the incident that took place today in the Armenian parliament.

“With a desk or with something else? It was proportionate and correct,” Pashinyan added.

“I condemn violence, but I support the ‘Civil Contract’ Faction for the measures taken today. If someone is an oppositionist, it does not mean that he should become impudent. When the member of the ‘Strong Armenia’ Faction behaved impudently from the [parliament] podium and, ignoring the requests and calls, did not apologize, it was clear that everything would end like this,” the Armenian premier added.

As reported earlier, a brawl broke out in the National Assembly (NA) of Armenia today between the ruling majority “Civil Contract” and opposition “Strong Armenia” Factions’ MPs.

Initially, the situation became tense due to “Civil Contract” lawmaker Taron Chakhoyan, during whose speech a verbal spat broke out in the parliament.

Then the verbal spat turned into a real brawl.

NA deputy speaker Vahagn Aleksanyan threw a chair at the opposition legislators.

"Strong Armenia" Faction MP Andranik Gevorgyan's nose was bleeding, while "Strong Armenia" Faction lawmaker Ruben Mkhitaryan's clothes were torn. Also, an ambulance arrived at the NA.

NA speaker Ruben Rubinyan, whose direct duty was to ensure order in the NA sessions’ hall, initially silently watched the brawl for several minutes, after which he announced a recess and summoned security officers.

The MPs continued their argument in the NA corridor, where curses were heard.