Far-right Greek MP arrested after fight in parliament
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A far-right Greek MP has been arrested after a punch-up in the country's parliament.
Konstantinos Floros, a former member of the extreme Spartans Party, allegedly assaulted Vasilis Grammenos, from the nationalist Greek Solution Party.
Parliament Speaker Constantinos Tasoulas ordered that Floros be handed over to the police and face criminal charges of assaulting a member of Parliament.
Floros, who is now an independent MP, was then arrested by the police.
Inside MPs had been debating whether to lift the immunity of the MP Kyriakos Velopoulos, who is the president of the Greek Solution Party. He's being sued for defamation by a retired navy officer whose son, the MP Konstantinos Floros, had asked to speak in the debate. However, he was told by Greek Solution's parliamentary spokesman, Constantinos Chitas, that the regulations did not allow it.
At that point, Floros shouted “this will be decided by judges,” to which another Greek Solution MP, Vassilis Grammenos, replied “shut up, you trash!”
After reportedly grabbing him in a headlock just outside the chamber Konstantinos Floros then allegedly punched Vassilis Grammenos in the head and threw him onto the floor.
Grammenos was then taken to the parliament's medical clinic. It is not yet known if he sustained any injuries.
The violence was condemned by the parliamentary speaker who described it as “brutal behaviour” and then gave Floros the harshest possible punishment, expulsion from parliament for 15 days.
“When we were making the procedural rules of the Parliament we thought we were addressing fundamentally rational people,” Constantinos Tassoulas told MPs, adding that this penalty is “very light compared with the vulgarity and brutality of his behaviour.”
He also warned Floros’ immunity will be lifted to face a possible lawsuit from his victim.
Later on Wednesday, Greece’s Supreme Court excluded the far-right Spartan Party from a list of political parties that have fulfilled the requirements to field candidates in the European Parliament election in June.
The decision followed a petition by three political parties to exclude the Spartans for alleged ties to the extreme-right Golden Dawn party, whose leading members were jailed in 2020 after being convicted of belonging to a criminal organisation.
