More than 200 people yesterday marched in Taipei ahead of the 74th anniversary of the 228 Incident.
The incident refers to a crackdown by the then-Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) regime against anti-government protests that began on Feb. 28, 1947, when security personnel at the Governor-General’s Office in Taipei — now the site of the Executive Yuan building — opened fire on civilian demonstrators who were demanding the arrest of those responsible for the killing of a bystander in an incident the previous day.
The bystander was part of a crowd that had gathered outside Taipei’s Tianma Tea House (天馬茶房) on Nanjing W Road to challenge Tobacco Monopoly Bureau officials after one of them struck Lin Chiang-mai (林江邁), a woman selling cigarettes illegally.
Photo: Peter Lo, Taipei Times
The incident was followed by the imposition of martial law, which lasted from May 19, 1949, to July 15, 1987, during which political dissidents were suppressed and many were killed.
Yesterday’s rally was the fifth in a series of annual demonstrations first organized in 2017 by the Tsai Jui-yueh Dance Research Institute and the Nylon Cheng Liberty Foundation and Memorial Museum.
The demonstrations are aimed at reminding the government of its “historical duty,” organizers said.
This year’s event was led by the Provisional Office of the Formosa Youth Council and the National Taiwan University Written Taiwanese Society, with “Burying Authoritarianism” and “Making Formosa” the central themes, they said.
Dozens of groups, including the Taiwan Association for Human Rights, Covenants Watch and the 228 Memorial Foundation, were represented at the march, they added.
The marchers, most of whom were dressed in black, gathered outside Rixin Elementary School in Datong District (大同) at about 1:30pm, before starting their march after 2pm.
They walked past the Tianma Tea House, the Taipei branch of the Tobacco Monopoly Bureau and the former site of the Taiwan Broadcasting Station, before stopping at the Executive Yuan.
The purpose of “remembering the past is to move toward a better future,” Nylon Cheng Liberty Foundation and Memorial Museum director Cheng Chu-mei (鄭竹梅) said before the march began.
She urged people to think about the kind of country they wanted, adding: “We should continue to speak while we still can.”
The names of people who died during the 228 Incident were also read aloud during the march.
Pointing out that yesterday’s demonstration coincided with International Mother Language Day, National Taiwan University Written Taiwanese Society president Lim Jiu Sin (林柔辰) said that in addition to lives, language and culture were also taken.
“I hope that everyone can get our mother language back together,” she said in Hoklo (commonly known as Taiwanese).
The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) today condemned the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) after the Czech officials confirmed that Chinese agents had surveilled Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) during her visit to Prague in March last year. Czech Military Intelligence director Petr Bartovsky yesterday said that Chinese operatives had attempted to create the conditions to carry out a demonstrative incident involving Hsiao, going as far as to plan a collision with her car. Hsiao was vice president-elect at the time. The MAC said that it has requested an explanation and demanded a public apology from Beijing. The CCP has repeatedly ignored the desires
Many Chinese spouses required to submit proof of having renounced their Chinese household registration have either completed the process or provided affidavits ahead of the June 30 deadline, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said on Thursday. Of the 12,146 people required to submit the proof, 5,534 had done so as of Wednesday, MAC deputy head and spokesperson Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) said. Another 2,572 people who met conditions for exemption or deferral from submitting proof of deregistration — such as those with serious illnesses or injuries — have submitted affidavits instead, he said. “As long as individuals are willing to cooperate with the legal
The Ma-anshan Nuclear Power Plant’s license has expired and it cannot simply be restarted, the Executive Yuan said today, ahead of national debates on the nuclear power referendum. The No. 2 reactor at the Ma-anshan Nuclear Power Plant in Pingtung County was disconnected from the nation’s power grid and completely shut down on May 17, the day its license expired. The government would prioritize people’s safety and conduct necessary evaluations and checks if there is a need to extend the service life of the reactor, Executive Yuan spokeswoman Michelle Lee (李慧芝) told a news conference. Lee said that the referendum would read: “Do
The Ministry of Environment yesterday held a seminar in Taipei for experts from Taiwan and Japan to exchange their experiences on the designs and development of public toilets. Japan Toilet Association chairman Kohei Yamamoto said that he was impressed with the eco-toilet set up at Daan Forest Park, adding that Japan still faces issues regarding public restrooms despite the progress it made over the past decades. For example, an all-gender toilet was set up in Kabukicho in Tokyo’s Shinjuku District several years ago, but it caused a public backlash and was rebuilt into traditional men’s and women’s toilets, he said. Japan Toilet Association