The so-called Bluebird Movement has taken to the streets of Taipei for a second night to protest amendments to Taiwan's recall laws proposed by the opposition Kuomintang. This time gathering outside the country's legislature, protesters say the changes will make it almost impossible to remove elected officials from office.
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00:00The Bluebirds are back for a second night of protests, this time outside Taiwan's legislature,
00:06to voice their objections to plans to amend recall laws from the opposition.
00:12The Bluebird movement is a civil protest group that emerged in May over controversial legislative
00:17reforms.
00:18Now they're targeting proposals by the opposition, which will make it more difficult for elected
00:23officials to be recalled.
00:25One amendment will require voters to provide a copy of their ID, which the KMT says is
00:30to counter fraud, but opponents to the move say it comes with data security risks.
00:36Though with the KMT getting support from the third party Taiwan People's Party, that amendment
00:41looks likely to pass on Friday.
00:43The second, arguably more consequential amendment will raise the number of votes needed to recall
00:48an official to more votes than they were elected by in the first place.
00:53This is a change that Taiwan's Central Election Commission says is questionable.
00:58That amendment still has a few more rounds in the legislature and is not as likely to
01:02pass.
01:03As the TPP have said, they won't necessarily support it.
01:07So why is the KMT pushing for these amendments?
01:09The party says there are efforts afoot to try to recall enough of their legislators
01:14to kill their legislative majority.
01:17On the other side, the ruling Democratic Progressive Party, which opposes the changes, is pointing
01:22to an incident this week where KMT legislators physically blocked other lawmakers from entering
01:28the room where preliminary voting was taking place on that recall law in committee.
01:35Both sides are calling foul play, accusing each other of sidestepping the democratic
01:40process for their own political gain.
01:44Tensions are set to remain high both inside and outside the legislature ahead of more
01:49protests planned on Friday morning ahead of those votes on the amendments.
01:55Devin Tsai, Leon Lien and Rhys Ayres in Taipei for Taiwan Plus.