Screaming anti-Ma slogans, protesters compared Ma to Adolf Hitler and said the KMT government was no different from the Nazi Party in its oppression of Taiwanese.
“If the KMT really believes that what it is doing is righteous, then why does it have to remove the plaque like a thief in the middle of the night?” said Peter Wang (王獻極), a leading member of the Taiwan Nation Alliance.
The protesters laid out banners showing pictures of the execution orders signed off by Chiang during his reign.
Two American tourists who declined to give their names asked why there were so few protesters Chiang was the cruel dictator many have accused him of being.
“If someone was to erect a statue of a Ku Klux Klan leader in the US, you bet you would for sure see a huge turn out of demonstrators, both black and white folks,” one said.
Wang said he rushed to the memorial after learning about the change on TV, adding that this probably accounted for the low protester turnout.
Executive Yuan Spokesman Su Jun-pin (蘇俊賓) said that the Executive Yuan respected due procedure and differing opinions.
KMT Legislator Shuai Hua-ming (帥化民) lauded the ministry’s move, saying it was following legislative resolution.
DPP Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) condemned the change, saying the party could not condone a “measure under which the nation’s public assets are used to commemorate a dictator who slaughtered his own people.”
Chiang was responsible for the massacre that began on Feb. 28, 1947 — known as the 228 Massacre — in which as many as 20,000 people were killed by KMT troops.
“President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) said renaming CKS Memorial Hall was a public issue that should be decided by the public. But his government … replaced the hall name in sneaky fashion,” Tsai said.
DPP Legislator Wang Sing-nan (王幸男) told a separate press conference that Ma’s paying tribute to Chiang and restoring the name to CKS Memorial Hall would spark ethnic controversy and rub salt on Taiwan’s historical wounds.
Chuang criticized the Taipei City Police Department for wasting public resources by mobilizing at least 600 officers to fend off protesters.
Aside from 600 officers deployed at the hall, Zhongzheng First Police District Director Chen Ming-cheng (陳銘政) said there were around 300 others in the nearby area, including all MRT exits.
Chen said that the number of officers deployed was “completely in line with protocol.”
“Out of concern over possible riots, CKS hall management asked Taipei City police provide the necessary assistance,” he said, confirming that the district had received the request on Sunday.
Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) said later yesterday that the police deployment was one-tenth the size deployed when then DPP government renamed the hall, although police in 2007 said there were around 600 officers deployed. Hau also said the hall was under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Education and city police were merely responding to a request.
Japanese tourist Emi Fukuda and her companions said yesterday they were disappointed when they realized tourists were barred from entering the memorial.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY RICH CHANG AND STAFF REPORTER
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