Police have removed several hundred protestors gathered near the legislature. The protestors are voicing their opposition to a controversial cross-strait trade in services pact.
A review of the pact was on the agenda of the legislature’s internal affairs committee on Thursday. 200 policemen escorted a convoy of lawmakers into the legislature’s compound, while protestors chanted slogans outside. The demonstrators demanded that a law to oversee all cross-strait agreements be enacted before the pact is reviewed. There were several incidents of protestors and police shoving one another.
A senior police officer speaking through a loudspeaker told the protestors to remain orderly. Police at the scene said that the protestors were disrupting traffic and added that protestors who did not clear out when told to do so would be arrested.