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TSU condemns New Party attack on Lee as a publicity stunt

The Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) issued a strong condemnation of the New Party yesterday, saying it is a "a violent party" after one of its candidates encouraged his supporters to throw eggs at former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝).

TSU spokesman Shu Chin-chiang (蘇進強) said the incident was apparently planned beforehand. He called on the public to protest by not voting for a party that "resorts to barbaric measures."

While Lee was campaigning in Yunlin County on Tuesday evening, Ho Chen-sheng (何振盛), a legislative candidate nominated by the New Party, suddenly started harassing him. A group of his supporters then proceeded to throw eggs at Lee while he was speaking at the rally.

It was the second time that Lee has been attacked in public. Last year, Lee was splattered with red ink while appearing at a track meet in Taoyuan.

Although they missed their target, the assailants were immediately attacked by Lee's supporters. The ensuing scuffle was broken up by the police, who took away Ho and a number of his supporters.

Lee looked upset but told the crowd to disregard the "trivial incident."

Ho told reporters afterwards that he staged the incident to attract the media's attention because most of his campaign activities had been sidelined.

Hsieh Chi-ta (謝啟大), the convener of the New Party, defended her comrade's encouragement of violent behavior immediately after the incident, saying "Lee's supporters overreacted."

"Ho was just trying to show his discontent ... He only used eggs and he missed his target," Hsieh said.

Speaking to journalists yesterday at Jianhushan resort in Yunlin, where Lee stayed overnight, Lee said he did not know what was happening at the time and was therefore unruffled. But he said he disapproved of Ho's "brutal deeds."

"It's possible the New Party planned this scheme to try to boost its waning popularity. We strongly oppose their violent tactics and their attempt to humiliate the former head of the state," said a news release issued by the TSU.

"We feel sorry [for Hsieh] because it is like a killer calling for help first."

A number of TSU supporters protested at Hsieh's campaign headquarters in Kaohsiung, demanding she apologize to Lee and withdraw from the elections.

Hsieh finally offered an apology on behalf of the party yesterday evening. But she said the apology was made to the public rather than the TSU because, she claimed, "there have been too many occasions where candidates from the pan-green alliance have thrown eggs at her headquarters in protest."
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