Facing the Ministry of Justice’s decision that the remaining houses in Taipei’s Huaguang Community (華光社區) would be demolished within three days starting yesterday, nearly 200 residents and activists yesterday marched in the capital to protest the forced removal of Huaguang residents, while calling for “living justice.”
After setting up a simple altar with fruit on it and a wooden sign that reads: “living justice” on a corner of the old community — which they said represented a parting ceremony for the community and the death of justice — the activists bowed their heads in tribute before heading off on their march.
Dozens of young activists carried wooden doors, window frames, ladders and other furniture on their shoulders as they joined the protest march.
Photo: Wang Yi-sung, Taipei Times
“We will use our bodies to show the government that what they are relentlessly tearing down are people’s homes,” a representative of the group said. “The [then-Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT)] government tacitly agreed for people to build homes in the community after the Nationalist government retreated to Taiwan in 1949. The government also did not impose residential planning controls during the periods of migration from rural to urban areas in the 1970s, and allowed more people to move into the area, but now it wants to erase its mistakes through violent demolitions.”
Holding a portrait of his deceased mother at the protest, a 60-year-old man surnamed Chen (陳) said his mother, Cheng Yi-mei (鄭依妹), had bought a house in the community with money she made working as a domestic servant for more than 40 years. However, five years ago, aged 87, she was faced with a “cold-blooded and cruel government” that threatened to fine her for benefiting from “illegal occupation” of government land if she did not move.
“She has done nothing to deserve being continually threatened over the past five years until her death this year... Many residents had no choice but to move because they could not cope with the heavy fines, which included interest payments of 5 percent, but I will not give in, not only for my mother, but because I can’t stand a government that treats its people like dirt,” Chen said.
Ho Hui-fen (侯惠芬), whose husband was born and raised in the community, said her parents-in-law have always abided by the law, paid their water and electricity bills, and have lived in Huaguang all their lives after they came to Taiwan, so it is unfair that they are suddenly forced to move and asked to pay a fine of more than NT$6 million (US$200,000).
Another protester, a young woman in her early 20s, said she began caring about similar controversial developments, including the Losheng (Happy Life) Sanatorium (樂生療養院) and the Wenlin Yuan (文林苑) urban renewal project, when she was a university student, and joined the movement for the rights of Huaguang residents because “the government always uses empty promises of economic development to repress underprivileged groups in society.”
In front of the Executive Yuan, activists staged three dramas, expressing that the public are hurting and bleeding as the government uses lawsuits against them; are being made homeless by land expropriations and demolitions; and are dying as the government hands down heavy fines while benefiting from offering regained land to companies for commercial use.
After the parade ended on Ketagalan Boulevard near noon, activists held an impromptu protest in front of the Ministry of Justice, where clashes with police broke out with several activists forcibly removed, put on police buses and dropped off at other locations.
Four activists were required to give their personal information to police before being released.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
A magnitude 4.9 earthquake struck off Tainan at 11:47am today, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The hypocenter was 32.3km northeast of Tainan City Hall at a depth of 7.3km, CWA data showed. The intensity of the quake, which gauges the actual effect of a seismic event, measured 4 in Tainan and Chiayi County on Taiwan's seven-tier intensity scale, the data showed. The quake had an intensity of 3 in Chiayi City and County, and Yunlin County, while it was measured as 2 in Kaohsiung, Nantou County, Changhua County, Taitung County and offshore Penghu County, the data showed. There were no immediate reports of
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) is maintaining close ties with Beijing, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said yesterday, hours after a new round of Chinese military drills in the Taiwan Strait began. Political parties in a democracy have a responsibility to be loyal to the nation and defend its sovereignty, DPP spokesman Justin Wu (吳崢) told a news conference in Taipei. His comments came hours after Beijing announced via Chinese state media that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s Eastern Theater Command was holding large-scale drills simulating a multi-pronged attack on Taiwan. Contrary to the KMT’s claims that it is staunchly anti-communist, KMT Deputy
RESPONSE: The government would investigate incidents of Taiwanese entertainers in China promoting CCP propaganda online in contravention of the law, the source said Taiwanese entertainers living in China who are found to have contravened cross-strait regulations or collaborated with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) could be subject to fines, a source said on Sunday. Several Taiwanese entertainers have posted on the social media platform Sina Weibo saying that Taiwan “must be returned” to China, and sharing news articles from Chinese state media. In response, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) has asked the Ministry of Culture to investigate whether the entertainers had contravened any laws, and asked for them to be questioned upon their return to Taiwan, an official familiar with the matter said. To curb repeated
RSS