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Flash mobs protest
Dapu demolitions
CLOSE TO HOME: Four protesters turned up at
Miaoli County Commissioner Liu Cheng-hung’s residence and were subsequently
charged with damaging property
By Loa Iok-sin and Peng Chien-li / Staff reporters
Police officers restrain a
protester in Dapu Borough in Miaoli County’s Jhunan Township yesterday.
Photo: Peng Chien-li, Taipei Times
Protesters against forced
demolitions in Miaoli County’s Dapu Borough demonstrate in front of the Chinese
Nationalist Party (KMT) headquarters in Taipei last night, holding pictures of
the 72 revolutionary martyrs who were buried at Huanghuagang in China’s
Guangdong Province and accusing President Ma Ying-jeou of only caring about his
party chairmanship election.
Photo: Liu Hsin-de, Taipei Times
Police officers form a human
chain to protect workers cleaning up a demolition site from protesters in Dapu
Borough in Miaoli County’s Jhunan Township yesterday.
Photo: Peng Chien-li, Taipei Times
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).
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.
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.
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
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