The head of the National Police Agency, Hou Yu-yi (
To accommodate the anti-Chen crowd that swarmed to the southern square of Taipei Railway Station last night, the Taiwan Railway Administration announced that it would leave the entrances open all night so that protesters could enter to use the bathrooms and purchase personal items.
The administration also decided that it would halt the sale of platform tickets to ensure passenger safety.
The administration had used red tape to mark certain areas in the Station where protesters would be advised to disperse from.
Earlier yesterday during the sit-in, a 48-year-old man named Hou Guo-lung (侯國龍) tried to immolate himself with gasoline on the protest stage before camp staff dissuaded him from doing so.
Hou, from Kaohsiung, said he wanted use his suicide to protest against Chen's corruption and had prepared a suicide note.
Meanwhile, at a party to celebrate the 185th anniversary of Central American Independence Day yesterday, American Institute in Taiwan director Stephen Young said that the protests were part of democracy.
So long as the protesters held their campaign peacefully, they wouldn't violate the law, he said.
Additional reporting by Shih Hsiu-chuan and Shelley Shan
RSS