A fistfight broke out in Turkey’s parliament on Friday when an opposition deputy was attacked after calling for his colleague, who had been jailed on charges of organizing anti-government protests but since elected an MP, to be admitted to the assembly, Reuters reported.

Video footage showed MPs for the ruling Justice and Development party (AKP) rushing in to punch Ahmet Sik, a member of the Workers’ Party of Turkey (TIP), at the lectern and dozens more joining a melee, some trying to hold others back.

Can Atalay was sentenced to 18 years in 2022 after being accused of trying to overthrow the government by allegedly organizing the nationwide Gezi Park protests in 2013 with philanthropist Osman Kavala, also now jailed, and six others. All deny the charges.

Despite his imprisonment, Atalay was elected to parliament in May last year to represent the TIP. Parliament stripped him of his seat, but on August 1 the Constitutional Court declared his exclusion null and void.

“We’re not surprised that you call Can Atalay a terrorist, just as you do everyone who does not side with you,” Sik told AKP lawmakers in a speech, adding, “But the biggest terrorists are the ones sitting in these seats.”

Brawls in the Turkish parliament are not uncommon. In June, lawmakers from Turkey's ruling AK Party and the pro-Kurdish DEM Party brawled in the country’s parliament over the detention and replacement of a DEM Party mayor in southeast Turkey.

In December of 2021, a brawl broke out at the Turkish parliament as lawmakers debated budgets and policy.

The fisticuffs broke out during an intense budget debate between Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu and an opposition lawmaker, and escalated into a fight in which dozens of members were involved, pushing and pulling at each other in the chamber.

In a different kind of incident in October of 2022, a Turkish Member of Parliament smashed his mobile phone with a hammer while speaking in parliament.

The lawmaker, Burak Erbay, was protesting against a proposed government-backed bill which aimed to combat online "disinformation".