Scuffles in Taiwan parliament, premier blocked from podium in COVID dispute

FILE PHOTO: Su Tseng-chang, the Democratic Progressive Party's (DPP) New Taipei city mayoral candidate, attends his campaign rally for the local elections in New Taipei City, Taiwan November 23, 2018. REUTERS/Ann Wang/File Photo

TAIPEI (Reuters) - Lawmakers from Taiwan's opposition Kuomintang (KMT) scuffled with members of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) in parliament on Tuesday and stopped the premier from addressing the assembly in a dispute over the COVID-19 pandemic.

The KMT has been demanding that Premier Su Tseng-chang apologise for his government's handling of the coronavirus, especially quarantine lapses that might have led to a spike in cases beginning in May, though infections have since dropped back to at most a handful a day.