Taiwan’s parliament descends into chaos and punch-ups between MPs in ugly scenes during debate
Taiwanese MPs punched, kicked, pushed and shoved each other during a heated debate over a set of reforms in the island’s parliament, writes Independent.
The scuffle took place on Friday morning when the parliament was set to debate a proposal to give lawmakers more power to oversee the government’s actions.
During the chaotic scenes that followed, some MPs surrounding the speaker’s seat, with many jumping over tables and others pulling colleagues to the floor. The fight was stopped but it restarted later and continued until the afternoon.
The brawl came just days before president-elect Lai Ching-te is set to take office without a legislative majority on Monday.
Taiwan’s two major parties, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) which is set to form a government and the Kuomintang (KMT), the main opposition, are in strong disagreement over draft reforms which includes a controversial move to criminalise officials who are deemed to make false statements in parliament.
The law was proposed by the KMT and its allies but it has been rejected by Mr Lai’s DPP as “an unconstitutional abuse of power”.
The debate got heated even before the lawmakers entered the House, with members exchanging accusations and insults outside the chamber.
