Following the forced demolition of four houses in Miaoli County’s Dapu Borough (大埔) on Thursday, protesters have staged several flash-mob protests in Miaoli and Taipei.
Around a dozen protesters turned up in front of President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) chairmanship election campaign headquarters in Taipei a little before 8pm last night, and began throwing eggs at the building while chanting, “You tear down the Dapu houses today, we will tear down the government tomorrow!”
By the time police arrived on the scene the egg-throwing had ended. Nevertheless, two protesters, Wang Chung-ming (王鐘銘) and Wu Hsueh-chan (吳學展), were detained and charged with violation of the Social Order Maintenance Act (社會秩序維護法).
Photo: Peng Chien-li, Taipei Times
The police declined to say whether they had evidence proving the two’s involvement in the egg-throwing protest.
The pair were still at the police station as of press time.
About half an hour before the protest, a larger crowd demonstrated outside the KMT headquarters in Taipei and clashed with police as they threw eggs at the building.
Photo: Liu Hsin-de, Taipei Times
Meanwhile, in Miaoli, four protesters staged a surprise protest outside Miaoli County Commissioner Liu Cheng-hung’s (劉政鴻) residence in Houlong Township (後龍) early yesterday morning.
“Rise up against the tyranny of Liu Cheng-hung that tore down the Dapu houses, Taiwanese!” The four shouted as they carried five large cans of yellow and white paint while running toward Liu’s house after arriving on scooters at around 6:20am.
Security guards outside the house scuffled with the four in a bid to try to stop them, and paint was splashed on the ground.
Photo: Peng Chien-li, Taipei Times
Hearing the commotion, Liu looked down from a second-floor balcony, and called the protesters “shameless.”
The quartet were arrested and charged with damaging property.
Chen Wei-ting (陳為廷), a native of Miaoli and a National Tsing Hua University student who was one the protesters, said they wanted Liu to know what it was like to have his house threatened.
The other three protesters were National Taiwan University students.
On Thursday, after the forced demolition in the morning, farming activist Yang Ru-men (楊儒門) and long-time social activist Lee Chien-cheng (李建誠) were arrested at around 6:30pm for trying to throw paint at the Presidential Office in protest at the forced demolition.
Earlier yesterday, Vice President Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) was confronted by a group of students shouting, “You will be punished for breaking promises!” as he attended an award ceremony in Taipei.
Later, in response to media inquiries, Wu he said he was “surprised” by Thursday’s demolition, but insisted it was within the county government’s authority to handle the case.
“I was quite surprised by the county government’s move. However, the county government handled the incident in accordance with the law. How can we overstep our authority and interfere with local affairs?” he said.
Additional reporting by Mo Yan-chih
‘CORRECT IDENTIFICATION’: Beginning in May, Taiwanese married to Japanese can register their home country as Taiwan in their spouse’s family record, ‘Nikkei Asia’ said The government yesterday thanked Japan for revising rules that would allow Taiwanese nationals married to Japanese citizens to list their home country as “Taiwan” in the official family record database. At present, Taiwanese have to select “China.” Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said the new rule, set to be implemented in May, would now “correctly” identify Taiwanese in Japan and help protect their rights, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement. The statement was released after Nikkei Asia reported the new policy earlier yesterday. The name and nationality of a non-Japanese person marrying a Japanese national is added to the
AT RISK: The council reiterated that people should seriously consider the necessity of visiting China, after Beijing passed 22 guidelines to punish ‘die-hard’ separatists The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) has since Jan. 1 last year received 65 petitions regarding Taiwanese who were interrogated or detained in China, MAC Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said yesterday. Fifty-two either went missing or had their personal freedoms restricted, with some put in criminal detention, while 13 were interrogated and temporarily detained, he said in a radio interview. On June 21 last year, China announced 22 guidelines to punish “die-hard Taiwanese independence separatists,” allowing Chinese courts to try people in absentia. The guidelines are uncivilized and inhumane, allowing Beijing to seize assets and issue the death penalty, with no regard for potential
‘UNITED FRONT’ FRONTS: Barring contact with Huaqiao and Jinan universities is needed to stop China targeting Taiwanese students, the education minister said Taiwan has blacklisted two Chinese universities from conducting academic exchange programs in the nation after reports that the institutes are arms of Beijing’s United Front Work Department, Minister of Education Cheng Ying-yao (鄭英耀) said in an exclusive interview with the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister paper) published yesterday. China’s Huaqiao University in Xiamen and Quanzhou, as well as Jinan University in Guangzhou, which have 600 and 1,500 Taiwanese on their rolls respectively, are under direct control of the Chinese government’s political warfare branch, Cheng said, citing reports by national security officials. A comprehensive ban on Taiwanese institutions collaborating or
COOPERATION: The president’s announcement about Taiwan aiming to increase its defense spending would help boost the nation’s deterrence, Mark Pottinger said Taiwan hopes to strengthen cooperation with the US in critical technologies and innovations to jointly build a safe and resilient “non-red supply chain,” President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday. Lai made the remarks at a meeting with former US deputy national security adviser Matt Pottinger and retired US rear admiral Mark Montgomery at the Presidential Office in Taipei. “Increased cooperation between authoritarian countries is posing risks and challenges to the geopolitical landscape and regional security,” Lai said. “Only by bolstering our defense capabilities can we demonstrate effective deterrence and maintain peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait and around the
RSS