Lawmakers in Taiwan were caught on video getting into a brawl in parliament over some controversial bills that could 'damage democracy'.
Considering MPs play a huge role in how any country is run, it's never a good sign to see them scrapping as they propose to pass new bills through parliament.
Well, a row within the Taiwan parliament became physical, as people disagreed on three legal amendments proposed by the opposition bloc.
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Lai Ching-te, who heads the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), opposed the bill, and some of his team had camped out on the podium of the parliament’s main chamber since Thursday (December 19) evening.
They even barricaded themselves inside the podium and piled up chairs to stop people from coming inside.
The Kuomintang (KMT) party and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP), who are very much allies to each other, are currently trying to pass the bills through parliament.
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One of the divisive bills includes planned changes to the Public Officials Election and Recall Act, which would make it more difficult for voters to remove elected officials from office.
The DPP said in a statement: "If the KMT forcefully passes the amendments... Taiwan’s democratic self-checking and self-repairing mechanism will be gone, and it will also cause significant and irreversible damage to Taiwan’s civil society and democratic system.
"At a time when Taiwan’s democracy is being violated and damaged, we must stand up and take action."
Outside of parliament on Friday (December 20), protestors took a stance against the proposed bills as they could be heard shouting 'return the evil amendments' and 'defend Taiwan', according to AFP.
"I am here to protest the opposition parties for trying to confiscate the people’s rights to recall," David Chen, a graduate student in Taiwan, told AFP.
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Roy Ngerng, who cover politics in Taiwan, described the brawl-like scenes going on between MPs in parliament as 'horrifying'.
He penned on Twitter: "Horrifying scenes in Taiwan's legislature today, as rogue KMT legislators violently attacked DPP legislators, in order to push through 3 rogue bills—they pushed Huang Jie to the floor, threw Ariel Chang to the wall, kicked and beat Chen Pei-yu, and Lin Chu-Yin injured her arm."
Videos of the brawl quickly went viral on social media, as lawmakers can be seen pushing and shoving each other. One such lawmaker, Lin Chu-Yin, has reportedly injured her arm in the scuffle, according to media reports.
Those against the bills worry it will weaken the country's stance against China, with their neighbor claiming the island as part of its territory.
Callum Jones