It will take about two weeks to repair the Legislative Yuan following the three-week long student-led occupation, a staff member said, but it is not clear if the cleanup will disrupt future meetings.
The legislature’s main chamber was occupied from March 18 to Thursday last week by protesters angered by the government’s handling of the cross-strait service trade pact signed in June last year.
Tsai Wei-min (蔡衛民), head of the Legislative Yuan’s General Affairs Department, said the main chamber is in good enough condition for meetings, but that repair efforts are still needed and are to be carried out.
Legislative staff and hired cleaning crews have been busy cleaning the premises, and a short plenary floor session was held on Friday last week.
Tsai did not give an estimate of the damage or cost of repairs, saying the figures could only be calculated after all repairs have been completed.
Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) on Friday last week said that no taxpayer money would be used to pay for the repairs, but he did not say from where the funds would come.
Five meetings of the full legislature have been postponed because of the protests.
The next meeting is scheduled for Friday, but Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus whip Lin Hung-chih (林鴻池) said he is not sure it will take place.
It depends both on the progress of the repairs and on discussions between the KMT opposition lawmakers, Lin said. However, any talk of postponement is premature, he said.
The legislature needs to pick up the pace of its work to handle several bills dealing with basic livelihood issues, he said.
Wu Ping-jui (吳秉叡), the Democratic Progressive Party caucus whip, said he has not received any notification of talks, but he thinks the legislature needs to be restored to a suitable state if plenary sessions are to resume on Friday.
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