Netizens have taken to Facebook to take part in an online campaign of “turning themselves in,” venting their anger after remarks by Minister of the Interior Lee Hong-yuan (李鴻源) that the supporters of four Dapu families could face legal action after allegedly damaging government property and violating the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法).
Using Facebook’s new hashtag feature, the campaign, dubbed “Wanted: Tens of thousands to turn themselves in (萬人自首招募中),” has elicited passionate responses not only from people who attended the rally, but also among netizens who are upset with what they regard as the government’s arbitrary policymaking.
The campaign came in the wake of an overnight rally against the forced demolition of houses in Dapu Borough (大埔) in Miaoli County’s Jhunan Township (竹南) staged by the Taiwan Rural Front (TRF) on Sunday last week and Monday.
The protesters rallied in front of the Presidential Office in Taipei before staging an overnight sit-in outside the ministry calling for amendments to the Land Expropriation Act (土地徵收條例).
Lee on Wednesday said the protesters could face legal action for leaving thousands of protest stickers and graffiti on the walls of the ministry’s building, as well as spray painting a mural on the ground outside the entrance.
“I was too pissed off to go to bed after hearing Lee say that he planned to sue the TRF and the protesters, so I posted a message on Facebook to vent my anger,” a 40-year-old woman surnamed Su (蘇) said.
Her post unexpectedly gave rise to the wide-reaching online campaign after a young netizen included it with a hashtag.
The campaign was followed by a nearly identical campaign, called “Needed: Tens of thousands to turn themselves in (#萬人自首募集中).”
Another netizen, who identified herself as Chen Hung-ying (陳虹穎), also launched a similar campaign on Facebook, but removed the words “turn themselves in,” saying they implied that the protesters had committed a crime, whereas they had not broken any laws or engaged in any form of violence during the rally.
Su said she was impressed by the creativity and ingenious ways campaigners added a pinch of humor to serious social events.
“I am also touched by [young people’s] efforts and courage to step forward and make their voices heard, when they could just stay home and sit in front of their computers playing online games,” she added.
Yang Yu-fang (楊宇帆), a young pineapple farmer who wrote a letter to President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) in September last year asking him to save the nation’s agricultural industry, also voiced his support for the protesters.
“My body was working at a farmland at an elevation of 3,000m to make a living on Sunday [last week], but my spirit was there with those protesters, throwing pineapples at the government and at the brainless ‘jellyfish,’” Yang said, alluding to a mocking nickname given to Ma by the nation’s netizens, who said the president and the jellyfish have three things in common: “They are brainless, spineless and have venomous tentacles.”
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