Amid applauses and cheers, about 100 taxis, carrying flags with the slogan “Defend our sovereignty, defend Taiwan” set out to stage surprise protests at random locations after a rally outside the Legislative Yuan yesterday.
Before the official departure at 3pm, about 100 taxis had already lined up on Jinan Road outside the legislature.
The drivers then began decorating their cars with small flags with the slogan “Defend our sovereignty, defend Taiwan” and yellow headbands with “Taiwan is my country” written in English and Chinese.
PHOTO: WANG MIN-WEI, TAIPEI TIMES
Some brought their own placards to protest against President Ma Ying-jeou's (馬英九) pro-China policies and the visit of China's Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait Chairman Chen Yunlin (陳雲林).
“Since Ma took over the presidency [in May], he has been repressing [the pro-Taiwan camp] through political and judicial means — and now he's even trying to compromise Taiwan's sovereignty,” Wu Shuh-min (吳樹民), chairman of the Taiwan Society, which organized the event, told the crowd.
“We must act now before it's too late,” he said, and was answered with loud applauses and cheers.
With supporters lined up on both sides of the road cheering, the taxis set out after blowing their horns five times.
“They will be out there like viruses making random protests at random locations,” said Zhang Ming-you (張銘祐), a Taiwan Society office director.
Earlier yesterday, the Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) also staged a demonstration in front of the legislature.
“The Chinese Nationalist Party [KMT] did a 180-degree turn from their anti-communist stance in the past to their pro-communist stance,” TSU chairman Huang Kun-huei (黃昆輝) told a crowd of supporters. “And this change really disgusts me.”
At the venue, the TSU displayed tainted or toxic products imported from China.
“As Chen Yunlin arrives this morning, I'd like to call on him to apologize to Taiwanese for the tainted milk products and propose real compensation,” the TSU chairman said.
After his brief remarks, Huang invited supporters to hit a dummy of Chen labeled “Executioners of China-based Taiwanese businesspeople,” “Smiling to hide his intention to annex Taiwan” and “President Ma's emperor.”
Huang said that as face-to-face confrontations were not allowed, the TSU would seek “flexible means” to voice its discontent.
Later last night, thousands of people — all wearing yellow headbands that read “Taiwan is my country” and some holding flags with an illustration of the map of Taiwan — rallied outside the legislature.
The rally, organized by the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), was held outside the legislature rather than near the Grand Hotel where Chen was staying because all of the party's applications for assembly and parade permits around the hotel had been turned down.
A rally will be held every evening until Thursday. Chen leaves on Friday morning.
Civil society groups yesterday protested outside the Legislative Yuan, decrying Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) efforts to pass three major bills that they said would seriously harm Taiwan’s democracy, and called to oust KMT caucus whip Fu Kun-chi (傅?萁). It was the second night of the three-day “Bluebird wintertime action” protests in Taipei, with organizers announcing that 8,000 people attended. Organized by Taiwan Citizen Front, the Economic Democracy Union (EDU) and a coalition of civil groups, about 6,000 people began a demonstration in front of KMT party headquarters in Taipei on Wednesday, organizers said. For the third day, the organizers asked people to assemble
POOR IMPLEMENTATION: Teachers welcomed the suspension, saying that the scheme disrupted school schedules, quality of learning and the milk market A policy to offer free milk to all school-age children nationwide is to be suspended next year due to multiple problems arising from implementation of the policy, the Executive Yuan announced yesterday. The policy was designed to increase the calcium intake of school-age children in Taiwan by drinking milk, as more than 80 percent drink less than 240ml per day. The recommended amount is 480ml. It was also implemented to help Taiwanese dairy farmers counter competition from fresh milk produced in New Zealand, which is to be imported to Taiwan tariff-free next year when the Agreement Between New Zealand and
‘NEW NORMAL’: A Japanese official said the drills show that the PLA can carry out large maneuvers without announcement, ‘leaving all of us struggling to respond’ Beijing’s recent naval exercises have left Taiwan and the US “struggling” for a response as the two nations drew different conclusions about the implications of the Chinese military drills, the Financial Times (FT) reported on Sunday. Taiwan has been bracing for China to hold military drills to retaliate against President William Lai’s (賴清德) diplomatic visits abroad, the outlet said, referring to Lai’s Nov. 30 to Dec. 6 tour to Taiwan’s three South Pacific allies, which included stopovers in Hawaii and Guam. Beijing announced partial air traffic restrictions across seven time zones along its coast from Shanghai to Hong Kong over two days. Yet,
CONNECTED: A survey of students from third grade to university seniors showed that 80% had cellphones, spending on average 37.27 hours per week on them Line users in Taiwan made an average of 100 million voice or video calls each day this year, while “like/thumbs up” was the most frequently used emoji in reaction to a message on the service, the Tokyo-based operator of the messaging app said yesterday. The app’s ability to adjust the quality of video and voice calls helps contribute to its frequent use, LY Corp said in a statement. As of Nov. 30, Line users in Taiwan spent an average of about one hour per day on the app, often checking it in the morning for messages that might have come through overnight,
RSS