NCC bill sparks violence in legislature

Amid bloodshed and fisticuffs, yesterday's legislative sitting accomplished little as the showdown over the cross-strait peace advancement bill proposed by the People First Party (PFP) was postponed and the organic bill of the proposed national communications commission (NCC) remained in legislative limbo.

As only the name of the legislation and the first article of the NCC bill proposed by the pan-blue camp passed second reading, next Tuesday's Procedural Committee will decide whether to put the cross-strait peace advancement bill on the agenda of the Oct. 25 plenary legislative session.

The scuffle began at around 11am when Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) ordered a vote on a proposal filed by PFP Legislator Li Yong-ping (李永萍) to skip the overall discussion of the NCC bill and proceed to an article-by-article debate.

Upset by Li's unexpected proposal, pan-green lawmakers stormed to the podium to voice their grievances. Li's proposal was endorsed by 79 lawmakers, while seven voted against it. The legislature has 225 members.

The pan-green camp refused to honor the result, claiming the number of lawmakers casting votes had failed to reach a quorum.

Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Huang Chao-hui (黃昭輝) then led a horde of DPP lawmakers to occupy the speaker's desk and seize Wang's gavel.

Wang then ordered a recess, and the two camps engaged in a shouting match.

Blowing whistles and holding placards reading "Taiwan stand up, refuse China's unification" and "pan-blue for party assets, against reform," the pan-green camp chanted such slogans as "dismiss the legislature" and "we want to speak."

The pan-blue camp responded by reciting "recall the president" and "dirty DPP," while holding placards reading "please review bills" and "do not cause any more disturbance."

At 11:32am, a violent exchange broke out between the two camps after the legislative speaker ordered an article-by-article discussion of the NCC bill.

Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Chang Sho-wen (張碩文) engaged in a violent scuffle with DPP Legislator Lee Ming-hsien (李明憲). Chang was beaten by three DPP lawmakers with a plastic stick after being pushed to the floor.

He was severely wounded on his left eyebrow, with blood streaming down his face. He was later rushed to the nearby National Taiwan University Hospital, where he received 10 large stitches and over 100 small stitches.

He also suffered from minor fractures on his forehead and right shoulder and complained about dizziness. He was ordered by doctors to stay at the hospital for further observation.

Lee suffered a broken lip, sprained ankle, and a bruised nose and knee. He also complained about vertigo and was rushed to the same hospital for treatment but later released.

Chang claimed Lee had hit him on the head with a mobile phone, which was later snatched by him and KMT Legislator Chen Chieh (陳杰). Lee, however, said that he had acted purely out of self defense.

The two camps then pointed fingers at each other for inciting the violence, with the pan-blue camp accusing its rival of attempting "premeditated murder" and the pan-greens berating the pan-blue for "acting as if it is the victim."

DPP caucus whip William Lai (賴清德) condemned the violence and called on the pan-blue alliance to exercise self-restraint and maintain composure and rationality.