Ma grants conditional `yes' to sit-in

Following the first "trial" protest on Friday night, the camp's spokeswoman Ho De-fen (賀德芬) yesterday shared her concern about the "commercialization" of the protest.

Ho challenged another spokesman, Jerry Fan (范可欽), over his ideas for the rally, including wearing red clothes to show anger and playing classical music during the protest.

Fan yesterday defended his ideas and said they were the product of a collaborative effort by the camp's think tank, and not his alone.

Meanwhile, back in Chen's hometown in Tainan County, a nine-day sit-in launched by the Democratic Progressive Party's Tainan Chapter in support of Chen yesterday entered its second day with an increasing number of participants, a Central News Agency report said.

Secretary-General of the Presidential Office Mark Chen (陳唐山) yesterday paid a visit to the venue and expressed his gratitude to the crowd.

Mark Chen said that the president did not know that he was planning to visit Tainan County nor had he asked him to convey message to the crowd.

The event organizer said it plans on inviting the president's mother to take part in the sit-in today.

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Analysis: Sit-in a real test of Ma's capabilities