And finally… taking the law into his own hands
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A legislator attempted to prevent a bill from being passed by physically grabbing the papers and attempting to run away with them in dramatic scenes in Taiwan’s parliament.
The MP, who has been dubbed the “Bill Bandit”, is seen fighting his way through a crowd of other lawmakers to remove the bill from the building in a video clip which has been viewed nearly 18 million times on Twitter.
The incident was just one of a number of scuffles which have taken place in the Taiwanese parliament in recent days.
Taiwan’s ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) no longer has a majority in parliament, which the opposition Kuomintang (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) are trying to exploit to increase their power.
The Taiwan Bar Association has expressed its “strongest condemnation” of the opposition parties for forcing a vote on four bills without any debate, Nikkei reports.
“This failure to perform its constitutional function of deliberating on laws and budgets not only undermines Taiwan’s democratic foundations but also violates the fundamental principles of democratic constitutionalism and representative democracy,” it said.
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