Reuters

BEIRUT, Oct 5 (Reuters) – Rival Lebanese lawmakers nearly came to blows on live TV on Monday, shoving and shouting at each other in a vivid illustration of political conflict that is paralysing decision-making and fuelling public discontent.

After arguing for several minutes at a parliamentary committee on public works and energy, one MP threw a water bottle, before scuffling with another. The fight was quickly broken up and the meeting abandoned.

Monday’s altercation began when MP Ziad Aswad, a member of Christian politician Michel Aoun’s Free Patriotic Movement, objected to corruption allegations raised against the minister of energy – who belongs to his political bloc – by a member of a rival alliance led by Sunni politician Saad al-Hariri.

Political tensions in Lebanon have been exacerbated by wider tensions in the Middle East, including the Syrian war. A national unity government bringing together rival parties has struggled to pass decisions and the country has been without a president for more than a year.

The crisis came to a head this summer with the government’s failure to agree a solution to a refuse collection and disposal dispute that left garbage festering on Beirut’s streets.

 

Other committee members intervened to keep the rowing lawmakers apart. The FPM is part of a political alliance including the Iranian-backed Shi’ite group Hezbollah. (Reporting by John Davison; Editing by Ruth Pitchford)