The Mexican Senate descended into chaos on Wednesday, with punches, shoving, and shouting after an opposition party leader physically confronted the Senate president at the close of a session.
Alejandro “Alito” Moreno, head of the opposition Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), approached Gerardo Fernández Noroña, president of the Senate and member of the ruling Morena party, as lawmakers were singing the national anthem to mark the end of the day’s hearing.
According to Fernández Noroña, the brawl erupted after heated debates over the presence of foreign armed forces in Mexico.
A video from the Mexican Congress shows Moreno grabbing Fernández Noroña by the arm before the two began shoving each other. In the scuffle, a photographer was knocked to the ground.
Fernández Noroña later told reporters the altercation reflected the intensifying political tensions inside the Senate.
