Lawmakers exchanged blows and threw a chair in Senegal’s parliament over a perceived insult towards an influential pro-opposition religious leader, Amy Ndiaye .
Ndiaye is an opposition member parliament , who slapped a legislator over her remarks, according to images on television and social media that were authenticated by AFP.
A fistfight erupted among MPs before the speaker suspended the session. The bust-up erupted during a vote on the justice ministry’s budget for 2023.
Senegal is widely viewed as a beacon of stability and democracy in West Africa — a region notorious for coups and dictatorships.