Kao Tien-sheng (郭天盛), who came from Taichung City to join the rally with his son, said that Chen’s alleged corruption didn’t make him less loyal to the DPP.
“A-bian didn’t represent the whole DPP,” he said. “That A-bian [allegedly] deposited large sums of money in overseas bank accounts really hurt my feelings, but I still support the DPP. I am sympathetic with its stance on cross-strait issues, unlike that of the KMT, which is willing to sacrifice Taiwan’s sovereignty.”
Lin Mei-hue (林美蕙), 33, said she was initially a bit hesitant about joining the brigade led by Chen because of his alleged corruption, but came to the conclusion that Chen had the right to join the rally and that any wrongdoings would be determined by the judicial system.
After waving to the crowd shortly from a truck a few hundred meters away from Ketagalan Boulevard, Chen left at 4pm without joining the night rally, which continued until 10pm.
It took a few hundred security officers protecting Chen about 30 minutes to push through the crowd so that he could get into his vehicle as his backers strove to shake hands with him, chanting “A-bian, Jia you [加油]!”
The National Police Agency said that a total of 5,406 officers were on duty for the demonstration.
No major conflicts happened in the rally except a small fire that broke out near a generator at the site, injuring one man. Police said they were investigating the cause of the fire.
At a separate setting, Presidential Office Spokesman Wang Yu-chi (王郁琦) said the government would review its policies and make every effort to push necessary reform.
Acknowledging that the demonstrators' appeals are the government's policy goals,“maybe we haven’t done enough, so some people are complaining. Compounding the problem is the global economic downturn,” he said.
On whether Ma would meet Tsai, Wang said Ma would be very happy to talk about anti-violence, anti-corruption and other economic issues with Tsai.
Wang said the office had invited her on several occasions in the past, but that Tsai had been unable to attend.
The office would, however, keep trying and “extend the most sincere invitation.”
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY KO SHU-LING, JIMMY CHUANG AND AGENCIES
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