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Adopting a tradition that the Ukrainian Rada has made its own in recent years, a fist fight broke out in the Georgian parliament on December 11 over a proposed resolution in support of pro-EU protesters in Kyiv.

Following in the footsteps of Washington, which has finally decided to weigh in on the stand off in Ukraine, Giorgi Baramidze from the opposition United National Movement proposed adopting a special resolution in solidarity with the Ukrainian people. At a plenary session, Baramidze also criticised the use of force against peaceful protesters in Kyiv and called for an end to Russian "aggression".

However, fighting broke out in the parliament when MP Soso Jachvliani, a member of the ruling Georgian Dream coalition, which has led a rapprochement with Moscow since coming to power in 2012, said Baramidze should first condemn the use of force by the former UNM administration against protesters in Tbilisi on November 7, 2007 and May 26, 2011.

Jachvliani, whose party led Georgia to initial a association and trade pact with the EU in November, also slammed former interior minister Baramidze's involvement in a police operation against a suspected criminal organisation in the Svaneti region in 2004. Jachvliani, who is from the the region, accused Baramidze of being responsible for "killing in front of children their uncle and grandfather" and "desecrating graves", Civil Georgia reports.

There were no serious injuries in the scuffle, which involved several members of both parliamentary groups. However, UNM MPs say they will not return to the parliament for plenary sessions until they receive a public apology from Georgian Dream.

Demonstrations have taken place in both Tbilisi and Yerevan in the last week in support of the mass protests in Kyiv.