Protesters at Taiwan's Legislature Say They'll Be Back
Protesters are promising further action outside Taiwan's legislature from Friday as the two main opposition parties seek to use their majority to push through reforms that would expand the assembly's power to oversee the executive branch.
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00:00 Protesters who've been rallying against a raft of reforms that would give the country's legislature more oversight of the government
00:06 are promising to return to the streets on a Friday.
00:08 Sally Jensen has been following the protests for us and is outside the legislature. Sally Jensen, what's going on there?
00:14 Well, you can guess it from the tranquility here now, but last night this whole area was absolutely packed with
00:26 thousands of protesters by some estimates 30,000 protesters angry about what was happening in Taiwan's
00:33 legislature. From the morning until around midnight crowds grew throughout the day with many people arriving straight from work
00:41 and many were shouting slogans like no discussion, no democracy and no democracy, no Taiwan.
00:51 Some people, people of all ages were holding sunflowers and singing songs reminiscent of
00:57 student-led movement in 2014. There were soapbox speeches
01:03 and it was all very peaceful, but rather last-minute and spontaneous.
01:08 But nonetheless, it was very well organized with NGOs and civil society groups
01:13 making sure that people were taken care of and had bottled water and everybody dispersed at around midnight
01:21 after the legislative session ended.
01:24 And now it's all being cleaned up. It's business as usual here.
01:29 But the protesters have warned that they will be back on Friday.
01:33 And what exactly are they taking to the streets for?
01:38 Well, the protesters fear that the legislative reforms proposed by the Taiwan's two main opposition parties
01:48 could undermine the country's democracy. Here's what one protester had to say.
01:54 If this bill is passed, the future legislators will be able to call these officials and people, without any reason, to ask questions and provide us with information.
02:08 As long as it's not in line with their beliefs that we should be doing our duty, we may be fined or even sentenced.
02:17 That's why this is so serious. It's not public, and if it's passed, it will cause a lot of concern to the people.
02:31 Now this comes just days after violence broke out in the legislature
02:39 as the ruling Democratic Progressive Party or DPP tried to stop this expansion of legislative powers of prosecution,
02:48 saying that not enough discussion had been had on these reforms.
02:52 And the main opposition parties, the Taiwan People's Party or TPP and the Kuomintang or KMT,
03:00 who now form a majority in the assembly, have said that there has been sufficient discussion.
03:06 So now the DPP and the protesters are trying to block these bills from passing.
03:12 And this division in the government is perhaps the biggest or first major challenge to the new president, Lai Ching-de,
03:21 who took office just days ago.
03:24 Now the legislature will reconvene here on Friday to continue reading through the bills and voting on them.
03:32 And the protesters have promised that they too will be back here for another round of protests then,
03:39 which they see, they believe, is the only way to defend Taiwan's freedom and sovereignty.