There was music and cries, laughter and tears, placards and banners as more than 2,000 people — including farmers, farming activists and their supporters — protested on Ketagalan Boulevard in front of the Presidential Office last night, voicing their opposition to a series of recent land takeovers by the government.
“Farmers from Dapu [大埔], raise your hands! Farmers from Wanbao [灣寶], raise your hands! Farmers from Erchongpu [二重埔], raise your hands! Farmers from Jhubei [竹北], raise your hands! Farmers from Siangsihliao [相思寮], raise your hands! Farmers from Tucheng [土城], raise your hands!” called out Taiwan Rural Front spokeswoman Tsai Pei-hui (蔡培慧).
The farmers raised their hands as their village was called, while the rest of the crowd cheered and applauded.
PHOTO: WANG MIN-WEI, TAIPEI TIMES
Farmers from Dapu Borough in Jhunan Township (竹南) and Wanbao Borough in Houlong Township (後龍), both in Miaoli County, Jhubei City (竹北), Erchongpu in Hsinchu County's Jhudong Township (竹東), Siangsihliao in Changhua County's Erlin Township (二林) and Taipei County’s Tucheng (土城), gathered in front of the Presidential Office last night as all these communities have faced, or may be facing, land expropriation by the government in order to make way for various development projects.
Although farmers across the country have been fighting land expropriation for years, their campaign did not gain much public attention until the Miaoli County Government last month sent in excavators escorted by police to dig up rice paddies in Dapu.
Images and video clips of what took place in Dapu were quickly spread via the Internet and media outlets, shocking the public.
“The government is not protecting our interests as it should be, instead it only cares about the interests of large corporations,” Erchongpu farmer Liu Ching-chang (劉慶昌) told the crowd. “One village alone is not powerful enough, we farmers across the country must stand in solidarity to fight for our rights.”
Dozens of civic groups joined the farmers in their struggle.
“I feel sad to be here today, seeing how these farmers are suffering,” Losheng Self-Help Association chairman Lee Tien-pei (李添培) said. “The police surrounded Dapu and destroyed the farms, just like how the police surrounded Losheng Sanatorium and demolished buildings two years ago.”
The Losheng Sanatorium was built in the 1930s in Taipei County to isolate patients with Hansen's disease, more commonly known as leprosy. A large part of the sanatorium campus was flattened to make way for a mass rapid transit maintenance depot despite a years-long campaign against the plan.
Former Council of Agriculture minister Tai Chen-yao (戴振耀), who is also a long-time farmers’ rights activist, was in the crowd.
“The land expropriations nowadays are the same as they were decades ago, the government's mentality has never changed,” he said. “They think industry is better than agriculture in terms of production value, but they’re not factoring in farmers’ rights to survival, to live and to work, as well as the positive contributions of farms to the environment.”
Some people in cars that drove by cheered for the farmers, while donations continued to pour in.
“I’ve donated NT$2,000 because I think farmers are suffering too much, they shouldn't be treated this way,” a woman said right after putting in two NT$1,000 bills into the donation box.
A number of bands and artists also expressed their support through their performances.
The demonstrators stayed out overnight on Ketagalan Boulevard.
A car bomb killed a senior Russian general in southern Moscow yesterday morning, the latest high-profile army figure to be blown up in a blast that came just hours after Russian and Ukrainian delegates held separate talks in Miami on a plan to end the war. Kyiv has not commented on the incident, but Russian investigators said they were probing whether the blast was “linked” to “Ukrainian special forces.” The attack was similar to other assassinations of generals and pro-war figures that have either been claimed, or are widely believed to have been orchestrated, by Ukraine. Russian Lieutenant General Fanil Sarvarov, 56, head
SAFETY FIRST: Double the number of police were deployed at the Taipei Marathon, while other cities released plans to bolster public event safety Authorities across Taiwan have stepped up security measures ahead of Christmas and New Year events, following a knife and smoke bomb attack in Taipei on Friday that left four people dead and 11 injured. In a bid to prevent potential copycat incidents, police deployments have been expanded for large gatherings, transport hubs, and other crowded public spaces, according to official statements from police and city authorities. Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) said the city has “comprehensively raised security readiness” in crowded areas, increased police deployments with armed officers, and intensified patrols during weekends and nighttime hours. For large-scale events, security checkpoints and explosives
PUBLIC SAFETY: The premier said that security would be tightened in transport hubs, while President Lai commended the public for their bravery The government is to deploy more police, including rapid response units, in crowded public areas to ensure a swift response to any threats, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday after a knife attack killed three people and injured 11 in Taipei the previous day. Lai made the remarks following a briefing by the National Police Agency on the progress of the investigation, saying that the attack underscored the importance of cooperation in public security between the central and local governments. The attack unfolded in the early evening on Friday around Taipei Main Station’s M7 exit and later near the Taipei MRT’s Zhongshan
REBUFFED: In response to Chinese criticism over recent arms sales, Washington urged Beijing to engage in meaningful dialogue instead of threats and intimidation Washington’s long-term commitment to Taiwan would not change, the US Department of State said yesterday, urging Beijing to stop pressuring Taiwan and engage in meaningful bilateral dialogues. The remarks came in response to a backlash from Beijing about Washington’s latest approval of arms sales to Taiwan. The US Defense Security Cooperation Agency said in a statement on Wednesday that the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in the US has asked to purchase an arms package, including Tactical Mission Network Software; AH-1W helicopter spare and repair parts; M109A7 self-propelled howitzers; HIMARS long range precision strike systems; tube-launched, optically tracked, wire-guided missiles; Javelin
RSS