Hundreds of supporters and opponents of a controversial plan to build a petrochemical complex in Changhua County clashed yesterday as the government held a public hearing on the project.
The two opposing forces used poles and protest banners to poke at each other outside Dacheng Township (大城) Hall in Changhua County in the hours before the hearing.
The clashes were sparked when a supporter of the project took exception to a fake coffin being held by opponents of the complex and tried to damage it.
PHOTO: LIU HSIAO-HSIN, TAIPEI TIMES
After they were separated by police, the two camps continued to trumpet their respective views via campaign trucks that were driven to the scene.
By the time the Ministry of Economic Affairs’ meeting on the NT$600 billion (US$20 billion) project began, the brawl had petered out, with no injuries reported.
Local police said between 400 and 500 protesters were present, while 500 officers were dispatched to the scene.
Inside the hall, sporadic quarrels also broke out between supporters and opponents of the project. The hearing ended without reaching any conclusion.
The complex is being proposed by Kuokuang Petrochemical Technology Co (KPTC, 國光石化科技), a joint venture between state-owned oil refiner CPC Corp, Taiwan (CPC, 台灣中油) and several private companies.
The project has been under consideration since the 1990s. Since it was first proposed, the site of the complex has been changed several times because of strong objections from local residents.
KPTC initially planned to invest up to NT$400 billion to construct a 4,000 hectare petrochemical complex on Changhua County’s coastal wetlands near the estuary of the Jhuoshui River (濁水溪). However, rising material costs increased the overall budget of the project.
The first phase is scheduled to be completed in 2016 and could help boost economic growth significantly, the project’s backers say.
The ministry says the project would generate revenue of about NT$460 billion and create 18,000 jobs directly and 357,000 jobs indirectly.
However, environmentalists have argued that the facility would cause irreversible damage to the area’s ecosystem, which includes migratory birds, fiddler crabs, mudskippers, mud shrimps and the endangered Indo-Pacific humpback dolphin.
Early last month, nearly 10,000 people from more than 200 groups nationwide took to the streets in Taipei, demanding that the government halt expansion of the petrochemical industry.
Tropical Storm Usagi strengthened to a typhoon yesterday morning and remains on track to brush past southeastern Taiwan from tomorrow to Sunday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was approximately 950km east-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost point, the CWA said. It is expected to enter the Bashi Channel and then turn north, moving into waters southeast of Taiwan, it said. The agency said it could issue a sea warning in the early hours of today and a land warning in the afternoon. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was moving at
UPDATED FORECAST: The warning covered areas of Pingtung County and Hengchun Peninsula, while a sea warning covering the southern Taiwan Strait was amended The Central Weather Administration (CWA) at 5:30pm yesterday issued a land warning for Typhoon Usagi as the storm approached Taiwan from the south after passing over the Philippines. As of 5pm, Usagi was 420km south-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost tip, with an average radius of 150km, the CWA said. The land warning covered areas of Pingtung County and the Hengchun Peninsula (恆春), and came with an amended sea warning, updating a warning issued yesterday morning to cover the southern part of the Taiwan Strait. No local governments had announced any class or office closures as of press time last night. The typhoon
At least 35 people were killed and dozens more injured when a man plowed his car into pedestrians exercising around a sports center in the southern Chinese city of Zhuhai on Monday night. Footage showing bodies lying on the pavement appeared on social media in the hours after the crash, but had vanished by early Tuesday morning, and local police reported only “injuries.” It took officials nearly 24 hours to reveal that dozens had died — in one of the country’s deadliest incidents in years. China heavily monitors social media platforms, where it is common for words and topics deemed
Typhoon Usagi yesterday had weakened into a tropical storm, but a land warning issued by the Central Weather Administration (CWA) was still in effect in four areas in southern Taiwan. As of 5pm yesterday, Tropical Storm Usagi was over waters 120km south-southwest of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), the southernmost tip of Taiwan proper, and was moving north at 9kph, CWA data showed. The storm was expected to veer northeast later yesterday. It had maximum sustained winds of 101kph, with gusts of up to 126kph, the data showed. The CWA urged residents of Kaohsiung, Pingtung County, Taitung County and the Hengchun Peninsula (恆春) to remain alert to
RSS