More than 1,000 people gathered in front of the Presidential Office early yesterday to perform a series of anti-nuclear morning exercises and unfurl a large anti-nuclear flag.
After Saturday’s anti-nuclear march and events that continued through the night, the remaining crowd and some new participants did a set of “anti-nuclear exercises” facing the Presidential Office.
The movements in the exercises were named after slogans used at the rally such as “Go protest against nuclear power,” “Everyone go against nuclear power,” and “We want information made public.”
Photo: CNA
Nuclear-Free Homeland Alliance executive director Lee Cho-han (李卓翰) expressed disappointment with the government’s response to Saturday’s march.
“Don’t underestimate the people’s will to achieve a nuclear-free homeland and the abandonment of construction of the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant,” Lee said. “If [the government] continues to use a politically calculated bird cage referendum to respond to demands for a nuclear phase out, then I believe the referendum result will have a big impact on the government.”
A main feature of the event was the unfurling of a large anti-nuclear flag reading “NO NUKES, No more Fukushima” by more than a dozen people surrounded by hundreds more holding smaller flags.
Tsai Chung-yueh (蔡中岳) of Citizen of the Earth, Taiwan, said that the large number of participants at the weekend’s events showed the people’s will to stop nuclear power. Tsai said the events were only the first of many.
Before the crowd left they were invited to form the Chinese character for “person” (人), to express a slogan used during the march — “I am a human being, I am against nuclear power” — and to echo a flash-mob protest initiated by theater director Ko I-chen (柯一正) at the same location last year.
SECURITY: As China is ‘reshaping’ Hong Kong’s population, Taiwan must raise the eligibility threshold for applications from Hong Kongers, Chiu Chui-cheng said When Hong Kong and Macau citizens apply for residency in Taiwan, it would be under a new category that includes a “national security observation period,” Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said yesterday. President William Lai (賴清德) on March 13 announced 17 strategies to counter China’s aggression toward Taiwan, including incorporating national security considerations into the review process for residency applications from Hong Kong and Macau citizens. The situation in Hong Kong is constantly changing, Chiu said to media yesterday on the sidelines of the Taipei Technology Run hosted by the Taipei Neihu Technology Park Development Association. With
A US Marine Corps regiment equipped with Naval Strike Missiles (NSM) is set to participate in the upcoming Balikatan 25 exercise in the Luzon Strait, marking the system’s first-ever deployment in the Philippines. US and Philippine officials have separately confirmed that the Navy Marine Expeditionary Ship Interdiction System (NMESIS) — the mobile launch platform for the Naval Strike Missile — would take part in the joint exercise. The missiles are being deployed to “a strategic first island chain chokepoint” in the waters between Taiwan proper and the Philippines, US-based Naval News reported. “The Luzon Strait and Bashi Channel represent a critical access
‘FORM OF PROTEST’: The German Institute Taipei said it was ‘shocked’ to see Nazi symbolism used in connection with political aims as it condemned the incident Sung Chien-liang (宋建樑), who led efforts to recall Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Lee Kun-cheng (李坤城), was released on bail of NT$80,000 yesterday amid an outcry over a Nazi armband he wore to questioning the night before. Sung arrived at the New Taipei City District Prosecutors’ Office for questioning in a recall petition forgery case on Tuesday night wearing a red armband bearing a swastika, carrying a copy of Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf and giving a Nazi salute. Sung left the building at 1:15am without the armband and apparently covering the book with a coat. This is a serious international scandal and Chinese
COUNTERINTELLIGENCE TRAINING: The ministry said 87.5 percent of the apprehended Chinese agents were reported by service members they tried to lure into becoming spies Taiwanese organized crime, illegal money lenders, temples and civic groups are complicit in Beijing’s infiltration of the armed forces, the Ministry of National Defense (MND) said in a report yesterday. Retired service members who had been turned to Beijing’s cause mainly relied on those channels to infiltrate the Taiwanese military, according to the report to be submitted to lawmakers ahead of tomorrow’s hearing on Chinese espionage in the military. Chinese intelligence typically used blackmail, Internet-based communications, bribery or debts to loan sharks to leverage active service personnel to do its bidding, it said. China’s main goals are to collect intelligence, and develop a