Several hundred Taiwanese demonstrators joined student organizers from Hong Kong and Macau at a sit-in at Taipei’s Liberty Square last night, showing their support for ongoing pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong’s Central District.
The rally, originally scheduled for next Wednesday, was abruptly moved to yesterday, following the surprise launch of Hong Kong’s Occupy Central protest.
“On Sunday afternoon, we decided to follow suit and take action,” said Clementine Ho (何慧欣), a member of organizer the Democratic Alliance of Hong Kong and Macau Students in Taiwan (港澳在台灣民主同盟).
“We deeply value Taiwanese support for Hong Kong’s democracy,” Hong Kong activist Lau Ka-yee (劉家儀) said.
“However, there is one person who has not spoken out,” Lau added. “President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) enjoys a great amount of popularity in Hong Kong. As president of the Republic of China, shouldn’t he stand firmly behind democratic values?”
Tensions in Hong Kong have escalated over the past week, as student protesters launched a week-long strike in response to Beijing’s announcement of its regulations for Hong Kong’s 2017 chief executive election, which critics say fall short of promised universal suffrage.
Tear gas and rubber bullets were fired on protesters yesterday evening in a show of force not seen since WTO protests in 2005.
Exiled Chinese dissidents Wang Dan (王丹) and Wu’er Kaixi, both veteran student leaders of the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests in Beijing, spoke at Liberty Square in support of Hong Kong’s movement.
“We stand shoulder-to-shoulder with our friends in Hong Kong,” Wuer Kaixi said, adding: “Although we might come from different backgrounds, what unites us is our support for freedom and democracy.”
Sunflower movement leaders Lin Fei-fan (林飛帆), Chen Wei-ting (陳為廷) and Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) also expressed their solidarity with the protesters in Hong Kong.
Lin and Chen emphasized how much they valued the support they had received from Hong Kong students during the Sunflower movement, in which student-led protesters took over the Legislative Yuan’s main chamber in Taipei to protest the government’s handling of the cross-strait service trade pact.
Huang called on Taiwanese to send a clear message to the Chinese Communist Party in Beijing.
“If bloodshed of any kind occurs in Hong Kong as a result of police crackdowns, we will not stand idly by. We will take to the streets and stand up against the Chinese Communist Party,” Huang said.
Super Typhoon Kong-rey is the largest cyclone to impact Taiwan in 27 years, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said today. Kong-rey’s radius of maximum wind (RMW) — the distance between the center of a cyclone and its band of strongest winds — has expanded to 320km, CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張竣堯) said. The last time a typhoon of comparable strength with an RMW larger than 300km made landfall in Taiwan was Typhoon Herb in 1996, he said. Herb made landfall between Keelung and Suao (蘇澳) in Yilan County with an RMW of 350km, Chang said. The weather station in Alishan (阿里山) recorded 1.09m of
STORM’S PATH: Kong-Rey could be the first typhoon to make landfall in Taiwan in November since Gilda in 1967. Taitung-Green Island ferry services have been halted Tropical Storm Kong-rey is forecast to strengthen into a typhoon early today and could make landfall in Taitung County between late Thursday and early Friday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 2pm yesterday, Kong-Rey was 1,030km east-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), the nation’s southernmost point, and was moving west at 7kph. The tropical storm was packing maximum sustained winds of 101kph, with gusts of up to 126 kph, CWA data showed. After landing in Taitung, the eye of the storm is forecast to move into the Taiwan Strait through central Taiwan on Friday morning, the agency said. With the storm moving
NO WORK, CLASS: President William Lai urged people in the eastern, southern and northern parts of the country to be on alert, with Typhoon Kong-rey approaching Typhoon Kong-rey is expected to make landfall on Taiwan’s east coast today, with work and classes canceled nationwide. Packing gusts of nearly 300kph, the storm yesterday intensified into a typhoon and was expected to gain even more strength before hitting Taitung County, the US Navy’s Joint Typhoon Warning Center said. The storm is forecast to cross Taiwan’s south, enter the Taiwan Strait and head toward China, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The CWA labeled the storm a “strong typhoon,” the most powerful on its scale. Up to 1.2m of rainfall was expected in mountainous areas of eastern Taiwan and destructive winds are likely
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday at 5:30pm issued a sea warning for Typhoon Kong-rey as the storm drew closer to the east coast. As of 8pm yesterday, the storm was 670km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻) and traveling northwest at 12kph to 16kph. It was packing maximum sustained winds of 162kph and gusts of up to 198kph, the CWA said. A land warning might be issued this morning for the storm, which is expected to have the strongest impact on Taiwan from tonight to early Friday morning, the agency said. Orchid Island (Lanyu, 蘭嶼) and Green Island (綠島) canceled classes and work
RSS