Japan’s lawmakers punch it out on controversial bill (pics+vid)

Punches flew in the Japanese parliament when a brawl broke out over legislation that changed the nation’s post WW2 pacifist foreign policy. The draft bill introduced by the Japanese government will allow military operations of the Japanese soldiers outside the borders of Japan, effectively changing its 70-year long standing policy that forbade the involvement of the Japanese army in foreign operations. The government brought the bill to a morning voting session in parliament, with the opposition MPs claiming they had not been informed on the procedure. When the parliament president was about to start reading the bill, oppositions lawmakers pounced on him and a fracas ensued with punches being thrown left and right. The  Shinzo Abe government argues that a more interventionist policy is imperative due to the threatening nature of China’s and North Korea’s policies in the area, despite polls showing public opinion against the abandonment of the pacifist policy of Japan.