Emotions continued to run high at the National Taiwan Democracy Memorial Hall yesterday as protesters and supporters traded angry volleys while work on changing the inscription on the hall's entry arch proceeded. The original four Chinese characters, dazhong zhizheng (
Supporters applauded, while protesters booed and jeered outside a barricade of barbed wires when the final character, zheng (
The installation of the new inscription, "Liberty Square" (
PHOTO: WALLY SANTANA, AP
The Taipei City Government opposes plans to alter the inscription and has claimed jurisdiction over the hall. But the central government argues that decisions made by the Cabinet-level Council of Cultural Affairs trumps any made on a municipal-level regarding the site.
The city government has refused to back down.
"All workers and police officers who assist in destroying the inscription face a minimum of five years' imprisonment for vandalizing a historic site. Stop your work at once. You are being used by your superior," Yeh Ching-yuan (葉慶元), commissioner of the city government's Law and Regulation Committee, said repeatedly through a portable speaker while watching the crane ascend up to the arch.
PHOTO: LU CHUN-WEI, TAIPEI TIMES
Lee Yong-ping (
Aside from changing the inscription on the entry arch, the ministry unveiled last night a new plaque bearing the characters minzhu jinianguan (民主紀念館), or Democracy Hall, that is expected be installed on the blue-roofed mausoleum in the next few days, the ministry's secretary-general, Chuang Kuo-jung (莊國榮), said.
The original plaque, which bear the characters "Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall" (
Chuang said if it suited the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), he was willing to personally foot the bill to have another set of the same inscription made and hung up at KMT headquarters or at the home of the its presidential hopeful, Ma Ying-jeou (
The project's chief technician, Tseng Yi-ping (
But Tseng could not confirm when the plaque would be installed because the city government's Department of Labor has refused to issue a permit to certify the safety of the construction site.
Minister of Education Tu Cheng-sheng (
The removal of the inscription yesterday was marked by intermittent clashes, but these were mostly verbal.
More than 600 police officers were dispatched to maintain order.
Supporters called protesters "idiotic leftover garbage of an authoritarian regime" while the protesters screamed at pan-green devotees to "go home and eat themselves."
One pan-green supporter surnamed Chang, 56, a former construction worker, said he was amply geared for a physical altercation if necessary.
"I had a few beers this morning. I am definitely gutsy enough to punch those damn China-lovers in the face," he said.
Meanwhile, pan-blue supporters hollered anti-government slogans and threatened to shoot down the construction workers.
"If you don't get down, you will fall to your death and your house will be burnt to rubble because you are committing a despicable act," a male protester shouted.
Premier Chang Chun-hsiung (
Meanwhile, National Taiwan University (NTU) Hospital staff said yesterday that ETTV cameraman Wang Jui-chang (
Wang was run over by a pickup truck on Thursday while filming a dispute between members of the Taiwan Independence Union and the truck driver.
"We found through X-rays and ultrasound that the hemorrhaging [in Wang's body] has actually increased," said I.E. Han (
Han said that Wang has fractures in the pelvis, the clavicle on his right shoulder and his left ankle. Wang may have problems walking and sitting later, Han said.
Government Information Office Minister Shieh Jhy-wey (
Additional reporting by Shih Hsiu-chuan,
Shelley Shan and CNA
The paramount chief of a volcanic island in Vanuatu yesterday said that he was “very impressed” by a UN court’s declaration that countries must tackle climate change. Vanuatu spearheaded the legal case at the International Court of Justice in The Hague, Netherlands, which on Wednesday ruled that countries have a duty to protect against the threat of a warming planet. “I’m very impressed,” George Bumseng, the top chief of the Pacific archipelago’s island of Ambrym, told reporters in the capital, Port Vila. “We have been waiting for this decision for a long time because we have been victims of this climate change for
MASSIVE LOSS: If the next recall votes also fail, it would signal that the administration of President William Lai would continue to face strong resistance within the legislature The results of recall votes yesterday dealt a blow to the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) efforts to overturn the opposition-controlled legislature, as all 24 Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers survived the recall bids. Backed by President William Lai’s (賴清德) DPP, civic groups led the recall drive, seeking to remove 31 out of 39 KMT lawmakers from the 113-seat legislature, in which the KMT and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) together hold a majority with 62 seats, while the DPP holds 51 seats. The scale of the recall elections was unprecedented, with another seven KMT lawmakers facing similar votes on Aug. 23. For a
Taiwan must invest in artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics to keep abreast of the next technological leap toward automation, Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) said at the luanch ceremony of Taiwan AI and Robots Alliance yesterday. The world is on the cusp of a new industrial revolution centered on AI and robotics, which would likely lead to a thorough transformation of human society, she told an event marking the establishment of a national AI and robotics alliance in Taipei. The arrival of the next industrial revolution could be a matter of years, she said. The pace of automation in the global economy can
All 24 lawmakers of the main opposition Chinese Nationalists Party (KMT) on Saturday survived historical nationwide recall elections, ensuring that the KMT along with Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) lawmakers will maintain opposition control of the legislature. Recall votes against all 24 KMT lawmakers as well as Hsinchu Mayor Ann Kao (高虹安) and KMT legislative caucus whip Fu Kun-chi (傅崐萁) failed to pass, according to Central Election Commission (CEC) figures. In only six of the 24 recall votes did the ballots cast in favor of the recall even meet the threshold of 25 percent of eligible voters needed for the recall to pass,