Fist fights, vocal protests and minor scuffles marked yesterday's official national day celebrations, while President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) later brushed off tens of thousands of protesters calling for his resignation.
An official ceremony attended by foreign dignitaries yesterday was marred by scuffles between pan-green and pan-blue lawmakers while Chen was delivering the National Day speech outside the Presidential Office.
Later in the day, a group of protesters estimated at 120,000 by Taipei City police besieged the Presidential Office and called for the president to step down. The number was far short of the 1.5 million protesters organizers said had attended.
PHOTO: WALLY SANTANA, AP
Red-clad legislators
The day's festivities began with red-clad Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and People First Party (PFP) legislators attempting to disrupt Chen's speech, chanting "A-bian step down," making thumbs-down gestures and holding up red banners that read "Depose Chen."
PFP Chairman James Soong (宋楚瑜), who attended the ceremony for the first time since the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) came to power six years ago, tried to lead his party members in approaching Chen during the middle of the president's speech.
PHOTO: SUNG CHIH-HSIUNG, TAIPEI TIMES
Security personnel quickly moved to prevent them from approaching the president and began to remove the lawmakers, who had turned violent. Security also snatched folding chairs from the hands of the angry legislators.
DPP legislators, who were sitting between the KMT and PFP groups, became enraged by the disruption.
Fist fight
DPP Legislator Lin Kuo-ching (
PFP Legislator Fu Kun-chi (
The celebration's preparatory committee said it had tried to prevent any conflict by erecting a white cloth barrier separating the lawmaker's seats from the president's grandstand.
Beating the barrier
Lee Ching-hua and KMT Legislator Chen Chao-jung (
Meanwhile, protesters had gathered around the fringes of the ceremony zone, and tried to block the four lanes of Zhonghua Road to prevent Chen Shui-bian's motorcade from leaving.
Unable to tell which car the president was in, the crowd rushed onto the road from the sidewalks whenever an official-looking black car appeared.
Several of the entrapped vehicles were carrying top government officials and foreign diplomatic guests. Protesters encircled the vehicles, smacking and kicking at the cars while shouting: "A-bian step down!"
Even before the ceremony began, DPP legislators including Lin Kuo-ching and Lee Ming-hsien (李明憲) had been blocked from entering by protesters, and had to be escorted into the ceremony by police.
A middle-aged woman caused a stir when, prior to the start of the ceremony, she threatened to immolate herself by igniting a bottle of liquid in the restricted area. Police carried the woman away, and the bottle was found to contain only water.
Presidential Office
The Presidential Office later yesterday issued a statement condemning the behavior of opposition legislators and the anti-Chen Shui-bian protesters.
The statement criticized the organizer of the protests, former DPP chairman Shih Ming-teh (施明德), for being "irresponsible and unwise" for organizing the siege, which it said was not only illegal, but also blocked traffic.
"They picked that particular time to create chaos and disturb the ceremony," the statement said. "They not only tarnished the nation's image, but also embarrassed the nation's leaders and disrespected foreign dignitaries."
Blasted
The Presidential Office also blasted opposition lawmakers for breaking a promise not to disturb the event, saying that their "irresponsible conduct" not only showed disrespect for the event coordinator, Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) of the KMT, but also destroyed the dignity of the ceremony.
Cabinet Spokesman Cheng Wen-tsang (
"It was a disgrace to our country for the world to see. The police should have stopped all the violence at the scene, but they did not," Cheng said.
DPP Chairman Yu Shyi-kun also condemned the pan-blue legislators' conduct, saying that the anti-Chen campaign had turned Double Ten National Day into a "national day of shame."
"Their illegal and violent behavior humiliated not only Taiwan, but also the Taiwanese people," Yu said, calling the protest and the "siege" a "ridiculous farce."
"They bear hatred in their minds instead of Taiwan," DPP Secretary-General Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) sad.
"Over the past month, everyone was being very tolerant of the anti-Chen campaign, but it has been a month. It's enough," he said.
"Taiwan is a democracy where people can express their opinions freely, but what is illegal is wrong," he said.
Wang Jin-pyng said the official celebration had achieved a kind of "perfection," despite "a fly in the ointment."
"That was part of the pluralism of a democratic society, which is nothing to be surprised about. We can't say that we see it often, but we have seen such things before in the legislature. Just let it be," Wang said, referring to the skirmishes.
The legislative speaker said what had worried him most were potential attacks on the president and an invasion of the celebration area by anti-Chen protesters, but neither of these occurred.
"While there were shortcomings, one flaw cannot obscure the splendor of the jade," he said.
Meanwhile, KMT Legislator Lee Ching-hua went to a hospital "to have his wounds examined," saying that he would use the doctor's report to sue DPP lawmakers.
"My head aches. The DPP is a violent party. Even though I was injured, we have to continue the protest courageously," he told reporters at the hospital.
Asked for a response to Lee Ching-hua's comments, DPP Legislator Lin Kuo-ching said he was also injured, pulling up his trousers to show his bruises.
"Bruises are all over my body. He [Lee Ching-hua] said I hit him. If that's the case, who hit me?" he asked.
"If they [Lee Ching-hua and other pan-blue legislators] had just chanted slogans, I would be fine with that. But they did more than that. They even tried to pull down the stage's canopy," he said.
"What he did was not insulting to the president. He was insulting the Republic of China," Lin Kuo-ching said.
"It was they [the pan-blue legislators] who deserted the country. We were defending the country," he said of the conflict between pan-blue and DPP legislators at the ceremony.
He added that the pan-blue legislators' protest during the ceremony was "outrageous" and that they had "crossed the line."
He also complained that people from Shih's campaign had chased him and thrown things at his car as he and other DPP legislators were arriving for the ceremony.
"Taipei has really become a violent city. It is very ironic to call Shih's campaign a movement of `love and peace,'" he said.
DPP Legislator Wang Shih-cheng (
Yesterday morning, police focused on not allowing protesters to enter the Double Ten National Day celebration site, but did not remove protesters parading from several directions as they "besieged" the Presidential Office.
Some minor conflicts involving protesters occurred but ended soon after police intervened.
At 8am, more than 100 protesters attempted to block a military police motorcycle team from entering the site, but police quickly stopped them.
Fifteen Taipei prosecutors were deployed around the protests to monitor events.
The lead prosecutor of the Taipei District Prosecutors' Office, Huang Ho-tsun (
Reporters: Mo Yan-chih, Ko Shu-ling, Jimmy Chuang, Shih Hsiu-chuan, Flora Wang and Rich Chang
also see stories:
Editorial: A day of national embarrassment
Pundits expect TAIEX to consolidate
RETHINK? The defense ministry and Navy Command Headquarters could take over the indigenous submarine project and change its production timeline, a source said Admiral Huang Shu-kuang’s (黃曙光) resignation as head of the Indigenous Submarine Program and as a member of the National Security Council could affect the production of submarines, a source said yesterday. Huang in a statement last night said he had decided to resign due to national security concerns while expressing the hope that it would put a stop to political wrangling that only undermines the advancement of the nation’s defense capabilities. Taiwan People’s Party Legislator Vivian Huang (黃珊珊) yesterday said that the admiral, her older brother, felt it was time for him to step down and that he had completed what he
Taiwan has experienced its most significant improvement in the QS World University Rankings by Subject, data provided on Sunday by international higher education analyst Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) showed. Compared with last year’s edition of the rankings, which measure academic excellence and influence, Taiwanese universities made great improvements in the H Index metric, which evaluates research productivity and its impact, with a notable 30 percent increase overall, QS said. Taiwanese universities also made notable progress in the Citations per Paper metric, which measures the impact of research, achieving a 13 percent increase. Taiwanese universities gained 10 percent in Academic Reputation, but declined 18 percent
UNDER DISCUSSION: The combatant command would integrate fast attack boat and anti-ship missile groups to defend waters closest to the coastline, a source said The military could establish a new combatant command as early as 2026, which would be tasked with defending Taiwan’s territorial waters 24 nautical miles (44.4km) from the nation’s coastline, a source familiar with the matter said yesterday. The new command, which would fall under the Naval Command Headquarters, would be led by a vice admiral and integrate existing fast attack boat and anti-ship missile groups, along with the Naval Maritime Surveillance and Reconnaissance Command, said the source, who asked to remain anonymous. It could be launched by 2026, but details are being discussed and no final timetable has been announced, the source
CHINA REACTS: The patrol and reconnaissance plane ‘transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,’ the 7th Fleet said, while Taipei said it saw nothing unusual The US 7th Fleet yesterday said that a US Navy P-8A Poseidon flew through the Taiwan Strait, a day after US and Chinese defense heads held their first talks since November 2022 in an effort to reduce regional tensions. The patrol and reconnaissance plane “transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,” the 7th Fleet said in a news release. “By operating within the Taiwan Strait in accordance with international law, the United States upholds the navigational rights and freedoms of all nations.” In a separate statement, the Ministry of National Defense said that it monitored nearby waters and airspace as the aircraft