A fistfight broke out during Yemen's U.N.-sponsored peace talks held in Geneva on Thursday, with delegates throwing shoes and hurling insults to boot.
Reuters reported that the melee started when a woman in a pink headscarf approached panelist Hamza Al-Houthi, head of the Iran-allied Houthi delegation, and threw her shoe at him.
Shoe throwing is a well-known insult in the Middle East, and was seen, for example, when Iraqis toppled a prominent statue of Saddam Hussein. President Bush also had a shoe thrown at him in during a speech in Baghdad in 2008, but he ducked — twice.
Al-Houthi remained calm during the incident, however the woman and her allied protestors continued yelling that he and his delegation were "criminals" and "dogs" who were "killing the children of south Yemen."
The resultant fistfight was indicative of the fraught negotiations between those allied with Saudi Arabia, which has led airstrikes against the insurgent, Iran-sponsored Houthis within Yemen during the last three months.
Within Yemen's borders, the clashes between the warring factions killed 30 in the central province of Mareb, and the capital, Sanaa, was hit with airstrikes.
The diplomatic negotiations are scheduled to conclude on Saturday.
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