More than 200,000 people, according to organizers’ estimates, took to the streets yesterday to join independent Taipei mayoral candidate Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) in a carnival-themed campaign parade, voicing their support for Ko’s “campaign for a change.”
Including samba dancers, people dressed as characters from fairy tales, giant balloons in the shape of a four-headed dragon, Mother Teresa — and the first Presbyterian missionary to northern Taiwan, George Leslie Mackay — as well as decorated floats and people holding colorful flags reading “Hug for Taipei,” thousands paraded from Liberty Square to Taipei City Hall in what appeared to be a festival celebration rather than a campaign event.
The crowd was divided into eight sections, each represented by symbolic colors: red for friendship, orange for brevity, yellow for passion, green for creativity, blue for freedom, indigo for eagerness, purple for equality and white for tolerance and dreams.
Photo: Wang Min-wei, Taipei Times
Each section was led by a float decorated with specialties and landmarks from different districts in the municipality. Although the head of the parade left Liberty Square at about 2pm, Ko, his wife and his parents, who were at the end of the parade, did not depart until 3:30pm, because the parade route was jammed.
Many marchers and onlookers cheered as Ko and his family passed by, while others were eager to point out Ko to bystanders.
Although Zhongzheng (中正) and Daan (大安) districts — where the parade passed — are considered to be Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) strongholds, many residents waved to the parade from their windows and shouted their support.
Photo: Reuters
“I would like to thank everyone for cheerfully taking part in the parade, embracing Taipei with love, welcoming the approaching mayoral election with feelings of festivity and looking forward to realizing the change,” Ko told his supporters in front of Taipei City Hall.
“Along the parade route, I saw bright colors, creativeness, and smiles on your faces. I would like to thank you for what you did with me — we succeeded in changing the political culture in Taiwan, elections are no longer about sorrow and threats; they are bright and joyful.”
Referring to his KMT rival, Sean Lien (連勝文), who cried during his own rally on Saturday, Ko said that unlike “another person” who was in tears during another parade and made it sorrowful, “I think the objective of politics is to make people happy, not sad.”
Photo: Wang Min-wei, Taipei Times
Ko said that the parade ended at the city hall because, if he is elected, his government would be a transparent one and therefore he would “lead the people into the city hall.”
“In the past, due to differences in ideology, an invisible and cold wall had been erected in the city between you and me. The wall divided us into ‘pan-green’ and ‘pan-blue,’ pro-‘unification’ and pro-independence, nationals and imperial subjects,” Ko said. “The two sides of the wall hated each other, shouted at each other and opposed each other. We do not know when this wall appeared, or how long it has existed, but it makes our family relationships, friendships and loves suffer.”
“I am here to stand with everyone in the city, to tear down the wall with love and hugs,” he said.
Photo: Wang Min-wei, Taipei Times
Ko added that there are many challenges facing society, including an increasing wealth gap, the unequal distribution of social resources, housing injustice and injustice in education resources.
“These are all the walls we must tear down,” he said.
Police estimated that about 100,000 people attended the event.
FALSE DOCUMENTS? Actor William Liao said he was ‘voluntarily cooperating’ with police after a suspect was accused of helping to produce false medical certificates Police yesterday questioned at least six entertainers amid allegations of evasion of compulsory military service, with Lee Chuan (李銓), a member of boy band Choc7 (超克7), and actor Daniel Chen (陳大天) among those summoned. The New Taipei City District Prosecutors’ Office in January launched an investigation into a group that was allegedly helping men dodge compulsory military service using falsified medical documents. Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) has been accused of being one of the group’s clients. As the investigation expanded, investigators at New Taipei City’s Yonghe Precinct said that other entertainers commissioned the group to obtain false documents. The main suspect, a man surnamed
The government is considering polices to increase rental subsidies for people living in social housing who get married and have children, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) said yesterday. During an interview with the Plain Law Movement (法律白話文) podcast, Cho said that housing prices cannot be brought down overnight without affecting banks and mortgages. Therefore, the government is focusing on providing more aid for young people by taking 3 to 5 percent of urban renewal projects and zone expropriations and using that land for social housing, he said. Single people living in social housing who get married and become parents could obtain 50 percent more
DEMOGRAPHICS: Robotics is the most promising answer to looming labor woes, the long-term care system and national contingency response, an official said Taiwan is to launch a five-year plan to boost the robotics industry in a bid to address labor shortages stemming from a declining and aging population, the Executive Yuan said yesterday. The government approved the initiative, dubbed the Smart Robotics Industry Promotion Plan, via executive order, senior officials told a post-Cabinet meeting news conference in Taipei. Taiwan’s population decline would strain the economy and the nation’s ability to care for vulnerable and elderly people, said Peter Hong (洪樂文), who heads the National Science and Technology Council’s (NSTC) Department of Engineering and Technologies. Projections show that the proportion of Taiwanese 65 or older would
Democracies must remain united in the face of a shifting geopolitical landscape, former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) told the Copenhagen Democracy Summit on Tuesday, while emphasizing the importance of Taiwan’s security to the world. “Taiwan’s security is essential to regional stability and to defending democratic values amid mounting authoritarianism,” Tsai said at the annual forum in the Danish capital. Noting a “new geopolitical landscape” in which global trade and security face “uncertainty and unpredictability,” Tsai said that democracies must remain united and be more committed to building up resilience together in the face of challenges. Resilience “allows us to absorb shocks, adapt under
RSS