Former Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) chairman Lin I-hsiung (
The peaceful sit-down protest mainly included opponents of the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant under construction in Taipei County.
Lin, who founded the Nuke-4 Referendum Initiative Association, declined to speak to reporters yesterday.
However, a member of the association read out a statement drafted by Lin, in which he said that all parties promised three years ago to halve the number of legislative seats and that a constitutional amendment had been held up in the Legislative Yuan.
"Getting this resolution passed should be as easy as lifting a finger," the statement said.
The demonstrators urged legislators to pass the proposal before the presidential election on March 20 because there was no reason to delay it. They said legislators made and broke promises too easily.
The 10-day demonstration began on a chilly note, with temperatures falling sharply from the 29?C recorded on Sunday.
Demonstrators sat on cushions and had only a blanket to keep them warm.
A cold front will bring temperatures down to 11?C tomorrow, according to the Central Weather Bureau.
The hunger strike is being conducted in 24-hour sessions.
Association executive general Iap Phok-bun (
Iap said that Lin and Academia Sinica President Lee Yuan-tseh (
DPP caucus secretary-general Tsai Huang-liang (
"We signed the petition letter to show our resolve. But our colleagues from the People First Party (PFP) were reluctant to cooperate," Tsai said.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus leader Liao Feng-te (
"We all respect his [Lin's] prestige. But at this critical moment, it's unnecessary to waste his energy," Liao said.
No KMT or PFP legislators have responded so far to a petition endorsed by both Lin and Lee on Feb. 20, activists said.
The petition demands that the ruling and opposition parties act to halve the number of legislative seats from 225.
TENSIONS: The Chinese aircraft and vessels were headed toward the western Pacific to take part in a joint air and sea military exercise, the Ministry of National Defense said A relatively large number of Chinese military aircraft and vessels were detected in Taiwan’s vicinity yesterday morning, apparently en route to a Chinese military exercise in the western Pacific, the Ministry of National Defense (MND) said. In a statement, the ministry said 36 Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) aircraft, including J-16 fighters and nuclear-capable H-6 bombers, crossed the median line of the Taiwan Strait or an extension of it, and were detected in the southern and southeastern parts of Taiwan’s air defense identification zone (ADIZ) from 5:20am to 9:30am yesterday. They were headed toward the western Pacific to take part in a
Honor guards are to stop performing changing of the guard ceremonies around a statue of Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) to avoid “worshiping authoritarianism,” the Ministry of Culture said yesterday. The fate of the bronze statue has long been the subject of fierce and polarizing debate in Taiwan, which has transformed from an autocracy under Chiang into one of Asia’s most vibrant democracies. The changing of the guard each hour at the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall in Taipei is a major tourist attraction, but starting from 9am on Monday, the ceremony is to be moved outdoors to Democracy Boulevard, outside the eponymous blue-and-white memorial
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) supports peaceful unification with China, and President William Lai (賴清德) is “a bit naive” for being a “practical worker for Taiwanese independence,” former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) said in an interview published yesterday. Asked about whether the KMT is on the same page as the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) on the issue of Taiwanese independence or unification with China, Ma told the Malaysian Chinese-language newspaper Sin Chew Daily that they are not. While the KMT supports peaceful unification and is against unification by force, the DPP opposes unification as such and
CASES SLOWING: Although weekly COVID-19 cases are rising, the growth rate has been falling, from 90 percent to 30 percent, 14 percent and 6 percent, the CDC said COVID-19 hospitalizations last week rose 6 percent to 987, while deaths soared 55 percent to 99, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday, adding that the recent wave of infections would likely peak this week. People aged 65 or older accounted for 79 percent of the hospitalizations and 90 percent of the deaths, the majority of whom have or had underlying health conditions, CDC data showed. The youngest hospitalized case last week was a six-month-old, who was born preterm and was unvaccinated, CDC physician Lin Yung-ching (林詠青) said. The infant had a fever, coughing and a runny nose early this month, but