The Kaohsiung Incident remembered

Lu remembers the moment clearly in her book, Re-trial of the Kaohsiung Incident (重審美麗島): "We were all stunned to see such severe fighting breaking out. We couldn't understand what had made people so crazy."

Around 9pm, three leaders of the magazine clambered atop a campaign truck and proceeded to control the crowd to a certain extent. They were Lu, Chang Chun-hung (張俊宏) and Lin I-hsiung (林義雄).

It took them until 10pm to reach the magazine's offices. But as they approached, another violent clash broke out.

Shouting was heard over loudspeakers from the riot-control trucks: "My brothers, if you love the country and the government, please back up and go home!"

It had little effect, as several trucks were overturned while the crowd pulled up railing fences to use as roadblocks.

The tense standoff continued until around midnight, when tear gas canisters were shot into the crowd.

Lu, Chen Chu (陳菊), Shih and his American wife, Linda Arrigo, were all gassed.

Panic and chaos ensued until the crowd finally dispersed around two hours later.

The next day, the Garrison Command claimed that 183 police and one civilian had been injured in the incident.

To this day, the identities of the prime instigators of the violence have never been confirmed.