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Rally to ‘tear down government’
By Chung Li-hua, Chang Hsun-teng and Stacy Hsu / Staff reporters,
with staff writer
Protesters throw ghost money at
the main gate to the Miaoli County Government on Friday evening during a rally
against the forced demolition of private homes in the county’s Dapu Borough.
Photo: Tsai Cheng Wang-min, Taipei Times
“Today we’re bringing down the
government” is written on a window at the National Taiwan University Hospital
station along Taipei’s MRT Xindian line early yesterday.
Photo taken from the Taiwan Rural Front’s Facebook page
The Taiwan Rural Front (TRF) is scheduled
to stage a rally on Ketagalan Boulevard in front of the Presidential Office
today, aiming to seek justice for victims of forced demolitions on the one-month
anniversary of the tearing down of private homes in Miaoli County’s Dapu Borough
(大埔).
Titled “Give the Country Back to its People, the 818 Mission to Tear Down the
Government,” the rally will be a two-part protest that includes a two-hour
“Civil Disobedience Forum” and a one-hour “Mission to Tear Down the Government,”
said Lin Le-xin (林樂昕), a member of the alliance.
The rally is to be held from 5pm to 8:30pm and will be followed by a “prolonged
battle against the government” that could last up to two days, the alliance
said, adding the protest is expected to attract 5,000 to 10,000 participants.
The alliance said efforts to design symbolic ways “to tear down the government”
are still underway and that it plans to recruit 2,000 volunteers to carry out
the plots.
Today’s rally follows a similar event in front of the Miaoli County Government
on Friday evening, which saw 1,000 people singing to show support for the Dapu
home-owners and throwing eggs at the building to express anger at the
government.
Fifteen police officers were accidentally hit by eggs, including officer Chang
Shih-hsiung (張世雄), who was rushed to a hospital after his right eyeball was
injured by eggshell fragments.
Meanwhile, several landmarks in Taipei, including Liberty Square, Taipei Main
Station, National Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall and the 228 National Memorial Park,
early yesterday reported damage from graffiti slogans such as: “Give Back the
Country to its People,” “A Nation Ruled by Evil” and “Tear Down the Government
Today.”
Lee An-tzu (李安慈), a member of the TRF, said the graffiti was painted by
individuals of their own accord and that the messages underlined the
ruthlessness of President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) administration and the legality
crisis it was facing.
“If people cannot tolerate the environment being damaged by graffiti, they
surely cannot stand the government arbitrarily tearing down private houses for
the sake of land speculation,” Lee said.
Meanwhile, public fury over the forced demolition of Dapu houses has also
brought the nation’s indie musicians together to voice their discontent.
Among them are Lala Lin (林羿含), Adam Shen (沈柏耀) and Blake Liu (劉仕博), three young
musicians who jointly founded the Taiwan Independent Musicians Street Union
(樂團人街頭陣線) on Facebook on Aug. 10 as a gesture of support for the ongoing
movement against government-backed demolition of homes. Their non-profit
organization has attracted about 1,400 fans over the past week and has been the
topic of online discussions among more than 6,600 netizens.
Stepping up their efforts, the trio on Thursday launched an online campaign
calling on other singers to weigh in on the movement by being photographed while
holding cardboard signs that read: “Today Dapu, Tomorrow the Government.”
As of press time, the campaign has received backing from nearly 30 bands,
including black metal band Chthonic (閃靈樂團), alt-rock veterans Backquarter (四分衛)
and political hip-hop group Kou Chou Ching (烤秋勤).
They also composed a dark, angry song, I’m With You (有我陪你), whose five-minute
music video was made of pictures and videos showing angry protesters and
saddened owners of the houses. The song calls on the public to join today’s
rally and to use singing to comfort victims of the government’s arbitrary
demolition of property.
“While musicians are usually the ones mobilized to join protests rather than
being the initiators themselves, it feels good to be able to do more than just
be ‘collateral damage’ at rallies,” said Lala Lin, 24, referring to protesters
who are quickly carried away by police after chanting slogans.
Additional Reporting by Peng Chien-li, Tsai Cheng-min and Hsieh Wen-hua
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