20100628 Facing torrential rains, protesters showed resolve

Facing torrential rains, protesters showed resolve

By Vincent Y. Chao
STAFF REPORTER
Monday, Jun 28, 2010, Page 2

A woman braves heavy rain in Taipei on Saturday to take part in a march and rally opposing a “one China market” and calling for a referendum on the proposed cross-strait economic cooperation framework agreement.

PHOTO: LO PEI-DER, TAIPEI TIMES

“It’s not going to rain right now, based on the luck we’ve had. It’s only going to rain when everyone gathers in front of the main stage,” a Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) official worryingly said.

It was 4:30pm on Saturday afternoon and just 30 minutes before tens of thousands of protesters were expected to finish their marches around Taipei City and gather in front of a massive stage set up before the Presidential Office.

The DPP official had nervously concluded that there was a very real risk of rain in the evening. Judging from the clouds and the hot and humid weather, officials quietly whispered that the forecast appeared too good to be true.

There was a reason for the worry in the eyes of DPP officials still busy setting up stage props and testing video feeds on Ketagalan Boulevard. Earlier this month, attendance was trimmed at a DPP event in Kaohsiung City after torrential rain in the evening.

This time around, the organizers hoped the sunny skies seen earlier in the morning would hold at least until the rally ended at 7pm. After all, this was the first major DPP-organized rally in months.

More than 300 buses carried tens of thousands of protesters from central and southern Taiwan to protest against the government’s handling of the negotiating process for the landmark trade deal with China. Former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) and all five DPP mayoral candidates in the November elections were taking part.

Their optimism about the weather was both apparent in their preparations and the looks of surprise when the first droplets started falling at 5pm. To their dismay, the droplets soon turned into buckets of water.

“This is going to be disastrous, there’s no way the DPP can keep this rally going in this weather,” a TV cameraman said to nodding heads around the media center.

Inquiries about how the weather would affect turnout quickly filled the tent, already filling with dozens of reporters and leaking rainwater.

“Just write that the turnout is 100,000 … 100,000,” a DPP media relations official shouted above the noise.

That figure was one of the numbers organizers had originally forecast.

“That number is impossible,” one reporter said.

However, a quick scan of protesters — most of whom were clad in yellow disposable raincoats and holding umbrellas — showed that the media relations official was closer to the truth than anyone in the tent could have imagined.

“Say no to a ‘one China market,’” “We want a referendum on an ECFA,” the crowd chanted amid the deafening sound of horns and the gushing rain.

Despite the weather, tens of thousands of protesters, the majority of them middle-aged or elderly, would not give up on their intention to send a message to the government that they were firmly opposed to its China policies.

“What about our interests? They have been completely ignored by the government,” a middle-aged protester surnamed Lee said.

She, along with other ­representatives from a women’s rights organization, said that once barriers against cheaper goods from China disappeared, so would Taiwanese jobs.

“The rain just isn’t all that important compared with these problems,” she said.

Similar concerns were raised throughout the crowd and repeated by a number of speakers on stage, which incidentally was not covered. Speaking without a raincoat or an umbrella, former premier and DPP candidate for Taipei City mayor Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) attempted to make light of his situation.

“You know, due to my [bald head], the rain probably flows better off my forehead,” he told reporters minutes before his speech.

By this time, in the media tent, things were not so light-hearted. Smoke had begun rising from a power outlet now completely underwater and the roof was no longer holding up. It was time to leave.

As tens of thousands of undeterred protesters continued shouting and clapping, a dozen wet and grumpy reporters made their way in raincoats and umbrellas out of the protest venue and out of the rain.