Disruptive protesters
This is in regards to the pension reform protesters who disrupted the Parade of Nations portion of the opening ceremony of the Taipei Universiade.
It is okay to peacefully display differences of opinion through banners and flags at major international events. I was initially happy to see many protesters from different ideologies doing so right outside the venue.
People with the Five-star flag and the Free-Tibet flag were right next to each other and did not bicker.
Those for and against same-sex marriage were also next to each other, but avoided confronting each other. Pro-independence people were just content to raise their banners and flags.
Athletes and colorful non-violent protesters had fun taking photographs of each other.
However, it is not okay to be menacing and confrontational, blasting deafening air horns, throwing smoke bombs and preventing the athletes from marching into the stadium.
Those groups against pension reform and certain ultra-Chinese nationalist groups were already a clear threat when they blasted ear-damaging air-horns right next to the Taipei Arena.
I was surprised that the police were still so passive at that point.
The pension reform groups and ultra-Chinese nationalist groups have effectively done a much better job than the People’s Republic of China in isolating Taiwan in two ways.
First, most of the Taiwanese audience were robbed of the chance of learning more about so many countries in the world, as hardly any of the athletes could march behind their flags but had to all come in together in the end.
Second, it might become difficult for Taiwan to host such international events again, not necessarily because of Beijing’s so-called “one China” policy but because of arguments that the police cannot guarantee security at the site.
The government could mitigate this argument by banning all on-site protests, but this would be sad because all other protest groups were indeed relatively peaceful.
By disrupting the event to show that they miss their unreasonable 18 percent preferential interest rate, the selfish pension reform protesters robbed people of many things and offended many.
They robbed all the hard-working Universiade volunteers of the satisfaction of having a successful opening ceremony. They robbed the athletes from participating in the Parade of Nations.
They insulted the struggling younger generation by defending their right to make Taiwan bankrupt through an unsustainable pension system and by denying the younger generation from having greater self-esteem about Taiwan through events like the Universiade.
The pension reform protesters have also shown disrespect for the sacrifices that Linkou residents have made to accommodate the athletes’ village of the Universiade.
Besides the bewilderment that the village is located in New Taipei City rather than the host city Taipei, many people in Linkou have not been happy that parkland was destroyed to build the village and that this village will later be used for welfare housing.
Yet, the residents of Linkou have tried to welcome these athletes by voluntarily and peacefully displaying the Republic of China (ROC) flag from the balconies of their homes and on the front doors of businesses.
Sadly, the pension reform protesters also used the ROC flag, but in this case for non-peaceful purposes.
Allen Chang
Hsinchu
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