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Taiwan probes alleged abuse by man 'walking' mother

Seniors walk down a street in France in March 2012. Taiwanese authorities said they were investigating a man who allegedly put a leash on his mother before "walking" her, triggering an uproar when his behaviour was videotaped and put online

Taiwanese authorities said Friday they were investigating a man who allegedly put a leash on his mother before "walking" her, triggering an uproar when his behaviour was videotaped and put online. The video, viewed widely across Taiwan and China, shows an elderly woman squatting on a sidewalk with a leash tied to her waist. As the woman in the video fails to keep her balance and falls over on the pavement, the man, purportedly her son, makes no attempt to try to help her. The department of social welfare in Taipei said in a statement that it will visit the woman to evaluate her condition, even though her son claimed that he was taking her out for physical therapy and denied abusing her. Cases of abuse and abandonment of senior citizens have been on the rise in Taiwan in recent years, prompting lawmakers to propose a bill to jail adults who fail to look after their elderly parents. People aged 65 and over account for 10.7 percent of Taiwan's 23 million population, the latest census showed, above the 7.0 percent level at which a society is defined as "ageing" by the World Health Organisation.