The protest was to end last night at 10pm with protestors draping themselves in black plastic bags and lying down on Ketagalan Boulevard while representatives from the 12 Aboriginal groups of Taiwan held a large white map of the nation, saying that Taiwan's indigenous people must "protect our land, protect our Taiwan."
Protest members said that they found the protest meaningful and blasted Lu's refusals to apologize.
"When I first heard the reports on the TV, I was really angry. First of all, the victims of the disaster areas were already badly off anyway; why did she have to blame them for something that they couldn't control? Second, the Aboriginal people of Taiwan are the native people of Taiwan. We are definitely not descended from black pygmies like she says. Lu has really hurt the heart of the Aboriginal people," said Chen Hsui-ling (陳秀苓), an Atayal Aborigine from Chilung.
Although no one at the protest seemed to hold hope that Lu would actually apologize, organizers said that the main significance of the rally was to highlight the existence of racism within the higher levels of the government.
"It's important that we came out in a consolidated show of force to protect the dignity of the Aboriginal people, draw attention to the racism of Lu's comments and point out some of the more important problems that need to be solved for the Aboriginal community," said KMT legislator Yang Jen-fu (
The next step, said PFP Legislator Tsai Chung-han (
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