Following violent clashes between opponents and proponents of President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) in Kaohsiung City on Monday night, a tense shouting match took place yesterday between rival protesters in Tainan City, where anti-Chen protesters were staging a sit-in.
To prevent scuffling between the two camps, more than 100 police officers were despatched to the scene and barricades were set up.
An anti-Chen supporter wearing a red shirt had her red car smashed by pro-Chen protesters when she was on her way out of the protest site.
TV news clips showed pro-Chen supporters hitting and kicking the back of the car as the woman drove away.
One protester shattered the rear windshield, while another used his helmet to smash the front windshield and dent the hood.
Another anti-Chen woman was hit by a rock and was later rushed to the nearby hospital.
An Asia Television cameraman was hit in the mouth by a placard that had been thrown at him.
TV political commentator Wang Ben-hu (
The anti-Chen sit-in was scheduled to end at 10pm and by 10:18 participants were being transported from the site in police buses.
Tainan City Police Chief Wang Wen-chung (
Meanwhile, on Monday night, approximately 100 anti-Chen protesters and 2,000 Chen supporters engaged in a shouting match at the intersection of Chunghua Road and Shihchuan Road in downtown Kaohsiung, where Chen Chun-sheng (
Significant numbers of the president's supporters in this traditional Democratic Progressive Party stronghold thronged to the site after watching TV news reports of the standoff.
Instead, divided by police barricades, the rival camps traded barbs.
Some of Chen's supporters clashed with police while trying to break through police barricades.
While the number of Chen's supporters on the scene continued to increase, the anti-Chen protesters gradually left under police escort. At about 11:30pm, the president's supporters broke through the police barricades, plunging the scene into chaos. Police immediately erected barbed wire barricades and used a police bus to remove the remaining 20-odd anti-Chen activists from the scene.
The situation was brought under control by around midnight.
Police said six separate altercations had taken place and that three Chen supporters had been arrested on suspicion of assaulting anti-Chen protesters and police officers. The three were freed early yesterday morning after being interviewed by police. Police said they would decide later whether to charge the individuals after perusing recordings of the incidents.
Kaohsiung City Police Chief Tsai Yi-ren (
Tsai told the press that police would not tolerate any further protests that were not approved by the city government.
Additional reporting by Ko Shu-ling
ANOTHER EMERGES: The CWA yesterday said this year’s fourth storm of the typhoon season had formed in the South China Sea, but was not expected to affect Taiwan Tropical Storm Gaemi has intensified slightly as it heads toward Taiwan, where it is expected to affect the country in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 8am yesterday, the 120km-radius storm was 800km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost tip, moving at 9kph northwest, the agency said. A sea warning for Gaemi could be issued tonight at the earliest, it said, adding that the storm is projected to be closest to Taiwan on Wednesday or Thursday. Gaemi’s potential effect on Taiwan remains unclear, as that would depend on its direction, radius and intensity, forecasters said. Former Weather Forecast
Taiwanese barista Xie Yi-chen (謝溢宸) recently triumphed at the 2024 World Coffee Championships, taking home 1st place in the World Latte Art category. Xie, 28, impressed the judges in the final round with patterns of a whale, a moose, and a dragon in the three-day competition that took place in Copenhagen, Denmark from June 27-29, clinching the title of latte art world champion during his first time representing Taiwan on the world stage. At a press conference held by the Taiwan Coffee Association on Thursday, Xie said that creating latte art gives him a tremendous feeling of achievement. Speaking about his entries in
TRAVEL CONVENIENCE: The program is to shorten wait times while passing through airport checks and would start for Taiwanese from January next year Japan is to launch a new program to expedite entry procedures for Taiwanese starting from January next year. The Japanese government is planning to introduce new rules to shorten the time it takes foreign travelers to pass through immigration, thereby attracting more tourists to visit, Japanese public broadcaster NHK reported yesterday. An airport preclearance program would be implemented to allow foreign travelers to finish some screenings at their departure airport’s terminals and undergo simple confirmation procedures upon arrival, it said. The program would initially be applied to travelers from Taiwan from January next year and could be extended to travelers from elsewhere depending
The annual Taipei Summer Festival, which starts today, is to tone down its fireworks displays, the Taipei Department of Information and Tourism said on Monday. Fireworks displays are to be held at the riverside site in Datong District’s (大同) Dadaocheng (大稻埕) area on four days at this year’s festival, with the first today, and then on Wednesday next week, July 31 and Aug. 10, the department said. There were eight displays last year, with the reduction aimed at minimizing inconvenience to local residents, it said. The first three shows, which are all on Wednesdays, are to last for five minutes, while the final