After a violent incident occurred in front of the Kaohsiung District Prosecutors' Office early yesterday morning during a protest, Kaohsiung Mayor Frank Hsieh (
"We should not let the violence carried out by the pan-blue camp after the election set a precedent," Hsieh said at a press conference.
PHOTO: YUTZU CHIU, TAIPEI TIMES
The violence would be a very bad example, which might be imitated by losers in future elections, Hsieh said.
Hsieh urged the city's green-camp supporters to respect the right of the pan-blue camp to seek judicial assistance in clarifying suspicious points about the presidential election, in order to lower the risk of disintegrating the fragile foundation of mutual trust in society.
"The city government will leave all the pan-blue camp's accusations about polling stations to the court to decide," Hsieh said.
Yesterday morning, the Kaohsiung District Court sealed all ballot boxes in Kaohsiung City and Kaohsiung County. In addition, the court kept all information about electoral affairs, including the name lists of both voters and staff at the polling stations.
On Saturday evening, hundreds of pan-blue supporters lamenting the loss of the election gathered in front of the Kaohsiung District Prosecutors' Office to protest.
Led by Lin Shiang-nung (林享能), in charge of the pan-blue camp's campaign in Kaohsiung, residents sang songs loudly and shouted slogans agitatedly. Some even cried.
Lin listed nine doubtful points to do with the election, urging the government to seal ballot boxes for recounting. He claimed there were irregularities at many polling stations in the city.
A campaign truck rammed into the building's iron gate, injuring some residents and seven police officers on duty. More than 500 police officers were on duty to handle the violent incident. The crowd did not leave the scene until 4am yesterday morning.
Some pan-blue supporters were yesterday still offering evidence and clues about irregularities about the election to their camp's chapter in the city.
Hsieh Hsiu-neng (
Mayor Hsieh stressed that it was time for the city's residents to reveal their democratic self-discipline.
"At this moment, the foundation of mutual trust in our society is relatively fragile. Both sides have to respect each other in order to mend the cracks in society," Hsieh said.
He said that his planning for the city's future development would further receive support from the central government because the DPP remains the ruling party.
Hsieh said that he was sorry to see foreign media reports that Taiwan's political situation would be turbulent.
"In fact, I'd like to urge foreign investors to come to Kaohsiung to seek business opportunities because influential steel-making and petrochemical industries are here," Hsieh said.
Hsieh said that he would urge the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) to keep in mind that both camps were supported by more than 6 million voters.
Hsieh believed that listening to different opinions would effectively mend the cracks in society created by the presidential election.
"Let's move on. Most people need a society allowing them to sleep well, eat well and make a profit from real-estate or stock market deals," Hsieh said.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫), spokeswoman Yang Chih-yu (楊智伃) and Legislator Hsieh Lung-chieh (謝龍介) would be summoned by police for questioning for leading an illegal assembly on Thursday evening last week, Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) said today. The three KMT officials led an assembly outside the Taipei City Prosecutors’ Office, a restricted area where public assembly is not allowed, protesting the questioning of several KMT staff and searches of KMT headquarters and offices in a recall petition forgery case. Chu, Yang and Hsieh are all suspected of contravening the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法) by holding
PRAISE: Japanese visitor Takashi Kubota said the Taiwanese temple architecture images showcased in the AI Art Gallery were the most impressive displays he saw Taiwan does not have an official pavilion at the World Expo in Osaka, Japan, because of its diplomatic predicament, but the government-backed Tech World pavilion is drawing interest with its unique recreations of works by Taiwanese artists. The pavilion features an artificial intelligence (AI)-based art gallery showcasing works of famous Taiwanese artists from the Japanese colonial period using innovative technologies. Among its main simulated displays are Eastern gouache paintings by Chen Chin (陳進), Lin Yu-shan (林玉山) and Kuo Hsueh-hu (郭雪湖), who were the three young Taiwanese painters selected for the East Asian Painting exhibition in 1927. Gouache is a water-based
Taiwan would welcome the return of Honduras as a diplomatic ally if its next president decides to make such a move, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. “Of course, we would welcome Honduras if they want to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan after their elections,” Lin said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, when asked to comment on statements made by two of the three Honduran presidential candidates during the presidential campaign in the Central American country. Taiwan is paying close attention to the region as a whole in the wake of a
A magnitude 4.1 earthquake struck eastern Taiwan's Hualien County at 2:23pm today, according to the Central Weather Administration (CWA). The epicenter of the temblor was 5.4 kilometers northeast of Hualien County Hall, at a depth of 34.9 km, according to the CWA. The earthquake's intensity, which gauges the actual effect of a temblor, was the highest in Hualien County, where it measured 2 on Taiwan's 7-tier intensity scale. The quake also measured an intensity of 1 in Yilan county, Taichung, Nantou County, Changhua County and Yunlin County, the CWA said. There were no immediate reports of damage or injuries.
RSS