Taiwanese Lawmakers Clash and Exchange Blows Over Parliament Reforms (VIDEO)

Taiwanese lawmakers shoved, tackled and hit each other in parliament on Friday, May 17, in a bitter dispute about reforms to the chamber, just days before President-elect Lai Ching-te takes office without a legislative majority…..read also Breaking News: Major 7.4 Magnitude Earthquake Strikes Taiwan, Prompts Tsunami Alerts

According to reports, even before votes started to be cast, some lawmakers screamed at and shoved each other outside the legislative chamber, before the action moved onto the floor of parliament itself.

Lawmakers surged around the speaker’s seat, some leaping over tables and pulling colleagues to the floor.

The fight was stopped but later continued in the afternoon.
Lai, who is to be inaugurated on Monday, won January’s election, but his Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lost its majority in parliament.

The main opposition party, the Kuomintang (KMT), has more seats than the DPP but not enough to form a majority on its own, so it has been working with small Taiwan People’s Party (TPP)

The opposition wants to give parliament greater scrutiny powers over the government, including a controversial proposal to criminalise officials who are deemed to make lie in parliament.

It’s not the first time the lawmakers in Taiwan have fought. In 2020, KMT lawmakers threw pig guts onto the chamber’s floor in a dispute over easing U.S. pork imports.

Watch video below: