Chairs, The Weapon Of Choice For Politicians

Oh how politicians love their chairs.

Chairs seem to be the weapon of choice for pissed off politicians around the world, and South Africa is no exception.

This weekend saw chairs flying from one end of a room to another at the East London ICC as violence broke out between members of the ANC in the Eastern Cape during the provincial ANC elective conference.

The chaos, according to EWN, was allegedly sparked by delegates who refused for non-members to participate in proceedings while legitimate members had been barred from the conference.

Eight delegates were rushed to hospital by ambulance after sustaining injuries at the conference on Saturday night.

This is not the first time politicians have become violent at political gatherings. Politicians all over the world having chosen the chair as the weapon of choice during brawls.

1. A fight broke out in Nepal's parliament in 2015, after opposing political groups clashed over the government's attempt to push through a new draft of the country's constitution.

Members of the opposition party threw chairs in an attempt to stop the speaker and member of the ruling (UML party), Subash Nemwang, from proposing a vote for a new constitutional draft.

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2. Members of the Taiwanese parliament are notorious for breaking into brawls over legislation.

In July, violence broke out following the proposal of an infrastructure spending bill from the ruling Democratic Progressive Party.

In a video by the BBC, politicians are seen using anything close to them to fight one another, even chairs.

3. Ugandan MPs got into violent fist fights while debating presidential age limits last week. This is a particularly sensitive subject as it would result in long-serving President Yoweri Museveni getting another term in office. Museveni has been in power for more than three decades. His proposal to raise the presidential age limit above 75 has faced major opposition from activists, the opposition, religious leaders and even some members of Museveni's governing party in Parliament.

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