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ECFA referendum sit-in enters Day 2
HIGH DUDGEON: Protesters and DPP officials gathered for a
second day to demand a referendum on signing an ECFA with China. The protest
continues until tonight
By Vincent Y. Chao
STAFF REPORTER
Saturday, May 22, 2010, Page 3
University students hold up signs calling for
a referendum on the signing of an economic cooperation framework agreement (ECFA)
with China during a protest outside the legislature in Taipei City yesterday.
The sit-in protest started on Thursday and is scheduled to finish tonight.
PHOTO: LO PEI-DER, TAIPEI TIMES
More than 300 protestors continued to sit outside the legislature yesterday,
wearing straw hats and using umbrellas to counter the scorching summer heat.
The group appeared to be in high spirits on the second day of the three-day
protest, occasionally bursting into Taiwanese folk songs led by on-stage
musicians.
The protest, which started on Thursday and is expected to wrap up tonight, is
directed at the government’s plan to sign an economic cooperation framework
agreement (ECFA) with China, which could take place as early as next month.
Organizers say that the protest — staged outside the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT)-controlled
legislature — is designed to increase pressure on President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九)
to hold a referendum on the controversial agreement before engaging in further
cross-strait negotiations.
Organizers said that the entire protest would be broadcast live on the Internet
at www.ecfareferendum.tw.
Arriving early in the morning, former premier Frank Hsieh (謝長廷), one of the
organizers of the event, said that he hoped the government “would listen to the
voice of the people ... Ma’s refusal to let the Taiwanese people have a say on
this [agreement] is not only anti-democratic, it is against his own political
promises.”
In a new addition, four 8m high banners were erected emblazoned with the slogans
“Give me back my human rights” and “Protect Taiwan’s sovereignty.”
Dozens of Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) officials and a number of DPP
lawmakers joined the protest early in the afternoon, along with farming and
labor organization representatives.
Business students from National Taiwan University and the National University of
Kaohsiung also took turns making speeches on the podium, criticizing Ma’s China
policies, including a plan to allow Chinese students to study in Taiwan from
next year.
While the number of protesters diminished noticeably from the crowds on
Thursday, dozens of curious spectators and passersby joined the event.
A woman in her 60s surnamed Cheng, who had traveled from Kaohsiung, said that
she came to express her concern that Ma had failed to take into account “China’s
dangerous motives toward Taiwan.”
Also present were a dozen street peddlers, shooting nervous glances at the
police there to keep order. While some were there to make a quick dollar, others
said that they supported the protest.
A sticky rice candy seller doing brisk business, who refused to be named, said
he and others were there without a license, but the police largely tolerated
their presence and they would leave if asked.
Another elderly snack seller, with Taiwanese independence flags perched on top
of his mobile stall, said that he could not leave his stand unattended but
wanted to come to the scene and voice his “support and love for Taiwan.”
The gathering, which in addition to Hsieh is also led by former Cabinet
secretary-general Lee Ying-yuan (李應元), is one of the biggest protests over the
ECFA to date, although the DPP has vowed to hold even larger demonstrations next
month.
Former DPP lawmaker Julian Kuo (郭正亮), who is also a member of the DPP’s ECFA
response team, said that the timing of the DPP event would depend on when the
government plans to hold the next round of cross-strait talks.
He said that if the talks were to be held in the middle of next month “then the
protest would very likely take place on or before [June 11].”
This protest is expected to end today at 10pm, following speeches by a number of
DPP officials, including a possible appearance by Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chu
(陳菊).
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