Taiwan legislator runs off with bill so it can't be passed during mass Parliament brawl

During a mass brawl in Taiwan's Parliament, a legislator ran off with a bill so it couldn't be passed by MPs.

A viral video appears to show Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislator Kuo Kuo-Wen jumping up onto the secretary-general's desk in the Legislative Yuan, the name for Taiwan's Parliament.

After a brief struggle, he snatches the documents, falling into people behind him, before running through a small crowd of people without being caught.

He then completes his escape by running through a red door at the other end of the room with the bill in his arms.

It comes as Taiwanese MPs punched, kicked, pushed and shoved each other during a heated debate over a set of reforms in the island's Parliament.

Scuffles started in the morning of May 17 and continued through the day when a debate was supposed to happen about a proposal to give lawmakers more power to oversee Government's actions.

On May 20, DPP's president-elect Lai Ching-te is set to take office without a legislative majority despite winning the January elections.

Kuomintang (KMT) has more seats than DPP but not enough to form a majority of its own and is looking to form a coalition with the smaller Taiwan People's Party (TPP).

DPP and KMT are the two major parties in Taiwan and both are in strong disagreement over draft reforms which includes a controversial move to criminalise officials who are deemed to make false statements in Parliament.

This was proposed by KMT and its allies but has been rejected strongly by DPP.

That seems to be why Kuo took matters into his own hands, stealing the bill so it couldn't be further debated or passed.

TPP MPs were involved in the clashes too.

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