Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Taipei mayoral candidate Sean Lien (連勝文) had a one-night stay at a public housing complex in the city’s Daan District (大安) on Wednesday night, after a canvassing tour with President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) to Ximending (西門町) that saw the pair, along with Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌), surrounded by security guards rather than cheering supporters.
Lien got up early yesterday morning to play the role of the neighborhood’s traffic guard for local schoolchildren after a one-night stay at the Cheng-gong public housing complex in Daan district, which is traditionally a deep-blue constituency, as the first stop of his “long stay” to “get to know the city residents’ daily lives.”
With the election around the corner and his poll numbers lagging behind those of his independent rival, Lien has been trying to woo the pan-blue electorate in the city.
Photo: Chen Chih-chu, Taipei Times
Before setting off for the stay in Daan, Lien on Wednesday visited and paid homage at the mausoleums of former presidents Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) and Chiang Ching-kuo (蔣經國).
The morning visit was followed by a canvassing tour in Ximending with Ma, who has long been considered as having a tense relationship with Lien, in an effort to demonstrate party unity.
The tour in Ximending, renowned for its youth-oriented fashion retail shops and restaurants, and usually swarming with youngsters and tourists at night, drew complaints and doubts about the necessity and the effectiveness of canvassing in which the candidate can hardly be seen amid the platoon of security guards surrounding the president.
Reporters took issue with police officers and security guards after being repeatedly pushed out of the way. Hardly anyone, reporters or the public, could get near the president or Lien, who was the only one in the protected circle that could be barely seen, waving, on the outside of the throng due to his height.
At least half a dozen people booed and shouted slogans at Ma during the walk that lasted less than an hour, all of whom were immediately apprehended by the security guards.
People shouted: “Down with Ma Ying-jeou,” while a man raised a placard that read: “Ting Hsin’s gatekeeper dog,” referring to a magazine’s report accusing Ma of being the protector of the corporation mired in repeated food scandals.
The protesters were either quickly surrounded and questioned or forced to leave the scene by security guards, with at least one of them getting slightly injured by police officers.
Local media dubbed it “an emperor’s royal progress.”
Lien said yesterday that he did not hear people protesting, when asked of the perceived public reaction to his visit to Ximending.
“Supportive and encouraging remarks were all that I encountered,” he said.
Ma also called the visit a success that witnessed “people’s passionate reaction to Lien,” and declared that they would continue to hold similar activities.
Hau, when asked about the necessity of the presence of scores of security guards at such events, said that it was understandable that the president’s security was the prime concern of the security agents, but at the same time “changes could be made to make campaigning more people-friendly.”
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