Face mask sparks scuffle in Czech parliament

Scuffles broke out in in the Czech parliament's lower house between a lawmaker who refused to wear a mandatory face mask and a chairman who switched off his microphone.

Independent lawmaker Lubomir Volny attended a debate over the government's request to extend the current state of emergency declared due to the coronavirus pandemic without a face mask together with another colleague.

In one of his contributions to the debate, Volny offended other lawmakers, prompting chairman Tomas Hanzel of the junior coalition Social Democrats to try to silence him by turning off the mic.

Volny reacted by walking to the chairman and trying to speak into his microphone.

That resulted in a brief skirmish between Volny and several of Hanzel's colleagues who rushed to help him.

Lower house speaker Radek Vondracek called Volny's behaviour unacceptable and ordered him to leave the session. The house's mandate and immunity committee will be dealing with the rare incident.

During the debate, Volny also ridiculed the coronavirus vaccines.

Ha was elected as an independent while running as a candidate for the far right populist Freedom and Direct Democracy party.

Police say they will investigate Volny and another independent lawmaker, Marian Bojko, for their refusal to weak face masks in the Parliament.