WORLD : Taiwan Police Battle Protesters
Rock-throwing protesters demanding greater democracy battled club-wielding riot police around the Legislature today, burning police vans and smashing windows. At least 80 people were injured, authorities said.
The violence broke out after about 1,000 demonstrators gathered outside the Legislature to harass aging lawmakers of the governing Nationalist Party entering the building to elect a new speaker of the Legislature.
The demonstrators, mostly supporters of the opposition Democratic Progressive Party, are demanding that the aging politicians, who last faced election on the Chinese mainland more than 40 years ago and dominate the assembly, be replaced by Taiwan-elected lawmakers.
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