Taiwan lawmakers clash after one party breaks into legislature to occupy speaker's chair

TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — Lawmakers clashed in Taiwan's legislature Friday when members of the president's political party who had broken into the building overnight to occupy the speaker's chair tussled with members of another major party who forced their way in to evict them.

Some lawmakers were injured in the clash, according to Taiwan media reports, though it wasn't clear how seriously.

At issue were three bills that the Nationalist Party, or Kuomintang, was trying to push through, including one that critics say would paralyze the Constitutional Court.

The legislature approved two of the bills — one on the court that requires at least 10 justices to be present to make a ruling and another that would stiffen the requirements for voter petitions to recall elected officials. The court currently has only eight justices, with seven vacancies.

Debate on the third bill, which would redistribute tax revenues by giving a larger share to local governments, continued into the night.

Lawmakers from the Democratic Progressive Party, which said the bills threaten Taiwan's democratic system, removed windows to get into the building Thursday night and take over the speaker's area, piling up walls of chairs to block access, Taiwan's Central News Agency said.

Photos and videos of the morning clash showed chaotic scenes with Nationalist members trying to remove or push their way through the barriers of chairs or clamber over a ledge in front of the speaker's area. Lawmakers from the other side shoved them and the chairs back and squirted or flung mineral water at them from plastic bottles.

The Nationalists, wearing matching white windbreakers, eventually took control of the area, allowing the speaker, Han Kuo-yu, to take his position.

The Democratic Progressive Party, known as the DPP, was attempting to block any votes on the bills. Neither they nor the Nationalists, known as the KMT, won a majority in the last legislative election. The KMT, which took slightly more seats, has teamed up with a minor party to take control of the legislature and is jostling for power with Taiwan's president, Lai Ching-te, who is from the DPP.

A DPP leader said in a social media video Thursday night that the party's actions were extreme but that it had no other options, the Central News Agency reported. Negotiations on the bills have failed to resolve differences between the parties.

Thousands of DPP supporters protested outside the legislature on Thursday night and Friday.

One protester, Stevie Kuo, said the KMT and its partner want to paralyze the court, drain the central government's finances and make it more difficult to recall elected officials.

“I think these three things will considerably harm Taiwan,” the postgraduate student said. "The people do not want this to happen.”

Lawmakers in Taiwan have brawled in the past. In 2020, they threw pig guts at each other over a government decision to lift a ban on the import of U.S. pork and beef.

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Moritsugu reported from Beijing.