More than 1,000 people gathered in front of the Presidential Office early yesterday to perform a series of anti-nuclear morning exercises and unfurl a large anti-nuclear flag.
After Saturday’s anti-nuclear march and events that continued through the night, the remaining crowd and some new participants did a set of “anti-nuclear exercises” facing the Presidential Office.
The movements in the exercises were named after slogans used at the rally such as “Go protest against nuclear power,” “Everyone go against nuclear power,” and “We want information made public.”
Photo: CNA
Nuclear-Free Homeland Alliance executive director Lee Cho-han (李卓翰) expressed disappointment with the government’s response to Saturday’s march.
“Don’t underestimate the people’s will to achieve a nuclear-free homeland and the abandonment of construction of the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant,” Lee said. “If [the government] continues to use a politically calculated bird cage referendum to respond to demands for a nuclear phase out, then I believe the referendum result will have a big impact on the government.”
A main feature of the event was the unfurling of a large anti-nuclear flag reading “NO NUKES, No more Fukushima” by more than a dozen people surrounded by hundreds more holding smaller flags.
Tsai Chung-yueh (蔡中岳) of Citizen of the Earth, Taiwan, said that the large number of participants at the weekend’s events showed the people’s will to stop nuclear power. Tsai said the events were only the first of many.
Before the crowd left they were invited to form the Chinese character for “person” (人), to express a slogan used during the march — “I am a human being, I am against nuclear power” — and to echo a flash-mob protest initiated by theater director Ko I-chen (柯一正) at the same location last year.
CHAOS: Iranians took to the streets playing celebratory music after reports of Khamenei’s death on Saturday, while mourners also gathered in Tehran yesterday Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed in a major attack on Iran launched by Israel and the US, throwing the future of the Islamic republic into doubt and raising the risk of regional instability. Iranian state television and the state-run IRNA news agency announced the 86-year-old’s death early yesterday. US President Donald Trump said it gave Iranians their “greatest chance” to “take back” their country. The announcements came after a joint US and Israeli aerial bombardment that targeted Iranian military and governmental sites. Trump said the “heavy and pinpoint bombing” would continue through the week or as long
An Emirates flight from Dubai arrived at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport yesterday afternoon, the first service of the airline since the US and Israel launched strikes against Iran on Saturday. Flight EK366 took off from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) at 3:51am yesterday and landed at 4:02pm before taxiing to the airport’s D6 gate at Terminal 2 at 4:08pm, data from the airport and FlightAware, a global flight tracking site, showed. Of the 501 passengers on the flight, 275 were Taiwanese, including 96 group tour travelers, the data showed. Tourism Administration Deputy Director-General Huang He-ting (黃荷婷) greeted Taiwanese passengers at the airport and
State-run CPC Corp, Taiwan (CPC, 台灣中油) yesterday said that it had confirmed on Saturday night with its liquefied natural gas (LNG) and crude oil suppliers that shipments are proceeding as scheduled and that domestic supplies remain unaffected. The CPC yesterday announced the gasoline and diesel prices will rise by NT$0.2 and NT$0.4 per liter, respectively, starting Monday, citing Middle East tensions and blizzards in the eastern United States. CPC also iterated it has been reducing the proportion of crude oil imports from the Middle East and diversifying its supply sources in the past few years in response to geopolitical risks, expanding
STRAIT OF HORMUZ: In the case of a prolonged blockade by Iran, Taiwan would look to sources of LNG outside the Middle East, including Australia and the US Taiwan would not have to ration power due to a shortage of natural gas, Minister of Economic Affairs Kung Ming-hsin (龔明鑫) said yesterday, after reports that the Strait of Hormuz was closed amid the conflict in the Middle East. The government has secured liquefied natural gas (LNG) supplies for this month and contingency measures are in place if the conflict extends into next month, Kung told lawmakers. Saying that 25 percent of Taiwan’s natural gas supplies are from Qatar, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus secretary-general Lin Pei-hsiang (林沛祥) asked about the situation in light of the conflict. There would be “no problems” with
RSS