Taiwan Parliament Occupied by protesters 1st time in History

The Service Trade Agreement (服貿協議) is one of the biggest trade agreement between China and Taiwan. Since it was secretly signed in June, 2013 in Shanghai, the opposition party Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and several civil groups requested that it be reviewed through the Parliament. On Jun 25, 2013, the ruling party KMT reached consensus with DPP to review the agreement “sentence-by-sentence.” According to a survey conducted by Liberty Times, 70% of Taiwanese citizens believe that the STA should be reviewed sentence-by-sentence.

The major opposing argument against STA concerns its negative impact on national security and lower-class workers, which might be widely ignored by the KMT government. Once STA took effect, many opponents of the trade pact worried that the infrastructure including roads and online service in Taiwan could be taken over by China companies.

On this Monday (3/18), the agreement was scheduled to be scrutinized by the Internal Administration Committee. Due to a huge conflict between the two parties, the meeting did not take place. In the afternoon, the Chair of committee, KMT Legislator Chang Ching-chung, suddenly declared outside the podium that the agreement was now “passed to the Parliament for vote.”

This declaration was regarded by DPP and civil groups as a violation to the Constitution as well as violating the common practice in the Parliament. Several civil groups organized protests, and more citizens were mobilized through the Internet to gather in front of the Parliament.

On Mar 18, 21:00, protesters stormed into the Parliament after hearing KMT announcing there would be no further review on the trade agreement. Protesters entered the building through all entrances, and they used chairs to prevent police entering and arresting them. Moreover, protesters broke into Chang Ching-chung’s office, and found numerous business cards from Chinese companies.
Updated photoes are herehttp://www.appledaily.com.tw/realtimenews/article/politics/20140318/362423/1/

or the first time in the history of Republic of China (Taiwan), protestors occupied the main building of the Parliament.

(from iReport CNN 2014/03/18)