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Thousands protest bills to increase LY powers
Thousands of people remained outside the Legislature Yuan overnight in protest over parliamentary reforms bills proposed by the Kuomintang (KMT) and the Taiwan People's Party (TPP) that would grant the legislature additional powers to supervise the executive branch of government.
The protest is being led by some 40 civic groups including the Taiwan Citizen Front and Alliance of Referendum for Taiwan. Those groups are claiming that some 30,000 people, a majority of whom are DPP supporters, joined the demonstration shortly after it began at around 21:00 last night.
Lawmakers completed the second reading of bills regarding how "government personnel" answer lawmakers' questions, how people are nominated to key government positions and amendments to strengthen the legislature's investigative powers at 23:45.
The second reading came after lawmakers had been in the legislative chamber for just over 14 hours.
The KMT and the TPP say the reform bills are necessary to enhance the legislature's oversight role, bring greater government transparency and accountability, and force the ruling party and its officials to face and respond to public opinion while the DPP says the bills are aimed at rolling back Taiwan's democratic system.
