EU parliament refers scuffling UKIP MEPs to police
STRASBOURG (Reuters) - French police will look into a scuffle in the European Parliament between two members of the UK Independence Party, which left one in hospital with a head injury, the speaker of the EU legislature said on Wednesday. President Martin Schulz said an internal inquiry he commissioned had been unable to reconcile the accounts of Mike Hookem, UKIP's defence spokesman, and Steven Woolfe, who collapsed after the incident. No witnesses had come forward. "Given the seriousness of the reported facts and their possible criminal implications, further evidence is needed to clarify this matter," Schulz told the chamber. "Therefore ... I have referred this matter to the competent French authorities." Last week, Woolfe, who suffered seizures and spent several days in a Strasbourg hospital, pulled out of the race to succeed fellow MEP Nigel Farage as UKIP leader and quit the party. He said it had become ungovernable since it secured its goal of taking Britain out of the EU in a June referendum. Hookem, 62, denied punching Woolfe, 49, outside a party meeting in the Strasbourg parliament building on Oct. 6. The former soldier said it had merely been "handbags at dawn". A UKIP internal investigation into the incident published on Wednesday said it was impossible to determine what had happened due to a lack of witnesses, but issued Hookem with a formal reprimand for allowing the confrontation to take place. Schulz said that depending on the outcome of police investigations he would consider sanctions, which can include suspensions from voting and a fine of up to about 3,000 euros. (Reporting by Alastair Macdonald and William James in London; Editing by Stephen Addison)
