Thread by @joyuwang

🧵Happening in Taiwan 🇹🇼

This morning at the legislature, the KMT speaker tried to start a session while DPP lawmakers opposed several controversial bills.

"The new president was sworn in yesterday," @hankuoyutw said. "if there's another clash, how are we going to explain it?"

Outside the legislature, hundreds of demonstrators, along with civil and political groups, are protesting bills that would give the legislature more power. The crowd is expected to grow even bigger this evening as people get off work and school.

The legislative session has just resumed after lunch break, with both DPP and KMT lawmakers chanting slogans —

DPP: 不討論 就散會
KMT: 反貪腐 要開會

As of 3 PM, the protest crowd outside the legislature had really grown, filling up a block of Qingdao East Road.

Demonstrators and DPP lawmakers have described what they call an opaque legislative process as a “black box,” a term reminiscent of the 2014 Sunflower movement.

Nymphia Wind, winner of RuPaul's Drag Race, appeared at the rally protesting KMT-backed bills.

“In the U.S., it's so vast you might not feel politics affect you," @66wind99 said. While in Taiwan, “politics really surrounds you.”

“We’re here to defend what matters to us.”

@66wind99 By 6:30 PM, with more people getting off work or school, the protest crowd has grown to fill two lanes of Zhongshan South Road, a main road near the legislature. The rally scene feels pretty peaceful and organized, except for a few verbal spats between folks with different views.