People First Party (PFP) chairman and pan-blue camp vice presidential candidate James Soong (
Soong's move nearly caused the situation to get out of control, however, as supporters and TV cameramen surged forward. Security personnel had to swiftly intervene to prevent a possible accident.
PHOTO: SEAN CHAO, TAIPEI TIMES
Soong claimed that over 300,000 people took part in the rally.
After the rally, Soong would not comment on his "kissing the land,"except to say that it had been planned in advance but was only known by top-level blue-camp campaign staff.
The problems Soong's kneeling caused were the result of a failure by the blue camp to synchronize Soong's kneeling down and that of Nationalist (KMT) Chairman Lien Chan (
The Taichung rally was one of a number or campaign rallies held simultaneously around the country.
An official with the PFP, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that according to the initial plans, Lien should have been the first to kneel down to kiss the ground, which was to be followed by Soong and those leading rallies elsewhere in the country.
The time set for the synchronized move was at 3:20pm, but due to errors in communication links Soong did not make the move until 3:26pm, a little ahead of Lien in Taipei who was apparently also confused about what caused the glitch.
PFP lawmaker Hwang Yih-jiau (
"It has been kept top secret in the blue team. Only a small number of people knew about it. In practice, Soong should not be the only one to kneel down. It would make more sense if all the people around him did the same," Hwang said.
Soong's kneeling down was not beyond the expectations of the green team. President Chen Shui-bian (
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫), spokeswoman Yang Chih-yu (楊智伃) and Legislator Hsieh Lung-chieh (謝龍介) would be summoned by police for questioning for leading an illegal assembly on Thursday evening last week, Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) said today. The three KMT officials led an assembly outside the Taipei City Prosecutors’ Office, a restricted area where public assembly is not allowed, protesting the questioning of several KMT staff and searches of KMT headquarters and offices in a recall petition forgery case. Chu, Yang and Hsieh are all suspected of contravening the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法) by holding
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