Fighting in Taiwan parliament after opposition occupies building
29 June, 2020
Fighting erupted in Taiwan's parliament on Mon (Jun 29) when lawmakers by the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) broke through barricades erected simply by the key opposition Kuomintang (KMT) who had occupied it to protest against federal government "tyranny".
A lot more than 20 KMT lawmakers occupied the legislature overnight over Monday, blocking access to the key chamber with chains and chairs.
They said the federal government was trying to force through legislation and demanding the president withdraw the nomination of a close aide to a high-level watchdog.
Late morning on Monday, DPP lawmakers pulled downwards the barricades and forced their way on, surrounding the primary podium where their KMT opposing numbers had holed up.
There were scuffles and shouting just as the KMT, including its youthful latest chairman Johnny Chiang, struggled to hold their position. Chiang finally left the podium, showing up to be pulled away a side door.
The KMT, trounced in January's parliamentary and presidential elections, began their protest in parliament later Sunday. The party typically favours close ties with China, which promises Taiwan as its territory.
The KMT said it was protesting the DPP and President Tsai Ing-wen's forcing though of bills and Tsai's nomination of her senior aide Chen Chu to mind the Control Yuan, a government watchdog.
"This year, the Tsai administration is becoming more tyrannical than before," the KMT stated in a declaration. "Tsai's obstinacy had kept the KMT without alternative but to occupy the Legislative Yuan for a parliamentary boycott."
The DPP has a large parliamentary majority.
Both DPP and the presidential office condemned the action, with the DPP saying the KMT was orchestrating a "farce".
"That is simply trampling on the value of their own members of parliament," the DPP said.
Fights and protests inside Taiwan's parliament building aren't an uncommon occurrence.
In 2014, a huge selection of learners occupied parliament for weeks in protests nicknamed the Sunflower Motion, demanding more transparency and fearful of China's growing economical and political influence on the island.
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