Thousands protest against contentious Taiwan parliament reforms

By Fabian Hamacher, Angie Teo and Ann Wang

TAIPEI (Reuters) -Thousands of people thronged the streets around Taiwan's parliament on Tuesday, protesting against measures to give lawmakers more oversight over the government, pushed by opposition parties over the ruling party's objections.

The protests outside parliament, and a raucous session inside, demonstrated the febrile political atmosphere facing new president Lai Ching-te a day after his inauguration.

An irate China, which claims Taiwan as its territory, views him as a "separatist", while in the fractured legislature his Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) has lost its majority. In his inauguration speech on Monday he called on China to stop threatening Taiwan.

The protesters on Tuesday, many of them young, listened to speeches and carried banners accusing the opposition of trying to force through the reforms, and even working in concert with China and trying to kill democracy.

The two main opposition parties, the Kuomintang (KMT) and Taiwan People's Party (TPP), which together have enough seats for a majority, have joined hands to back changes that give parliament greater scrutiny over the government.

That includes a proposal for lawmakers to punish officials deemed to commit contempt of parliament by making false statements or "withholding information", which the DPP says lacks a clear definition.

"I think with so many people coming out today it is a warning for the lawmakers; they need to be aware that their power is bestowed by the people," said university student Lee Li, 24.

Inside parliament, lawmakers jostled, unfurled banners and shouted at each other, with debate going on into evening.

While there was no repeat of scenes on Friday that saw legislators punching and wrestling each other in the chamber, DPP lawmakers wearing headbands reading "Democracy has died" demanded more discussions on the proposals.

"On the speaker's platform today is not the KMT or the TPP. It's Xi Jinping," DPP caucus whip Ker Chien-ming told the chamber, referring to China's president.

His remarks prompted shouts of "Shut up!" from the opposition camp, some of whom brandished signs reading, "Reforming parliament, let sunshine in."

The KMT accused the DPP of trying to "spread rumours and paint them red", the colours of China's ruling Communist Party, in a bid to stifle the reforms.

"We hope the government can accept scrutiny from the people and lawmakers, who are the representatives of the people. Do not say we are 'selling out our country' just because we were trying to pass the law on reform of the chamber," said KMT lawmaker Jessica Chen.

Some of the protesters and DPP lawmakers carried sunflowers, a reference to a movement a decade ago when hundreds of students occupied Taiwan's parliament for weeks in protests against trade pacts with China.

There was a heavy police presence, but no signs of violence.

Taiwanese drag queen Nymphia Wind, the winner of this year's RuPaul's Drag Race, appeared briefly at the protest rally to offer support.

"I respect parliament, but I hope parliament can do things that we respect and respect our democratic procedures," she said. "As a Taiwanese citizen, I think we must stand up."

Curtis Yan, 23, a content creator, said democracy had rules to follow.

"Democracy does not mean that you can change the law anytime and not follow the rules. This is a situation faced by all democratic society, but it doesn't mean you can do anything you want," he said at the rally.

(Reporting by Fabian Hamacher, Angie Teo and Ann Wang; Additional reporting by Yimou Lee and Ben Blanchard; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)