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Pro-independence
group marks sit-in’s 1,000th day
AWAITING A RESPONSE: The protesters say they
will remain outside the legislature until the government gives them an answer to
their pleas
By Loa Iok-sin / Staff Reporter
Independent presidential
candidate Ellen Huang, center, accompanied by National Taiwan University
professor Tsay Ting-kuei, left, tells a press conference in Taipei yesterday
that she has gathered 25,000 signatures on a petition for a referendum on
independence and self-determination. She needs more than 250,000 names for the
petition to be accepted.
Photo: Chang Chia-ming, Taipei Times
The Alliance of Referendum for Taiwan
yesterday marked the 1,000th day of their sit-in outside the legislature, vowing
not to give up their fight for Taiwanese independence and to defend Taiwan’s
sovereignty.
“We’ve been here for 1,000 days — this is a record in Taiwan’s history. We will
continue our struggle to defend Taiwan’s sovereignty,” the alliance’s convener,
Tsay Ting-kuei (蔡丁貴), told dozens of people gathered outside the Legislative
Yuan in the evening.
Members of the alliance and their supporters launched their sit-in rally in
October 2008 after taking part in a Democratic Progressive Party (DPP)-organized
protest against President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九).
At the time, Tsay and his supporters called for revisions to the Referendum Act
(公民投票法), which has a threshold for passage that they say is too high.
Later, in response to a demonstration initiated by college students calling for
the abolition of the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法), Tsay and his supporters
added the demand to their list.
As the government had not responded positively to their demands, their protest
continued.
Healthy Taiwan Society president Kuo Cheng-tian (郭正典), one of the participants
of the sit-in, urged the public not to re-elect Ma next year.
“If the Chinese Nationalist Party [KMT] remains in power, it will have nothing
to fear and will place harsher restrictions on civil rights,” he said. “At that
time, we may have our own ‘Jasmine Revolution’ in Taiwan.”
Independent presidential candidate Elleen Huang (黃越綏) also showed up at last
night’s rally, where she announced that her presidential bid would be her final
political activity.
“I know I am not going to get elected, but I still would like people to sign the
petition for me to become an official candidate,” Huang said.
“Each signature you sign for me is a slam on China [and sends the message] that
Taiwan wants to remain independent. It’s also a reminder to the DPP of the
Taiwanese people’s wishes,” she said.
By law, an independent candidate must collect 250,000 signatures to be on the
ballot.
As of yesterday, Huang had gathered 25,000 signatures.
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