As pan-blue supporters held illegal gatherings outside the Presidential Office in Taipei and at other places around the country yesterday, Premier Yu Shyi-kun said that they were "barking up the wrong tree."
"I'd like to quote what Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Lien Chan (
"Let's cherish peace and unity, and let the legal system take care of the rest. Let's settle the conflicts with rationality and let the controversy be resolved by the courts," he said.
Although the government re-spects the pan-blue camp's right to take legal steps, there is a difference between seeking a legal resolution and inciting people to stage protests, Yu said.
"The case is now in the hands of the court, and the High Court has ordered that all ballot boxes be sealed," he said.
Yu made the remarks yesterday morning during a press conference after presiding over a closed-door meeting with high-ranking Cabinet officials to discuss the nationwide gatherings.
He said he had discussed the gatherings with President Chen Shui-bian (
"In addition to expressing his understanding of why the protests have been staged, the president instructed me to handle the matter openly, transparently and carefully, and to trust and respect the court's ruling when it reaches a decision," Yu said.
He said he spoke to Taipei City Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), Taichung Mayor Jason Hu (胡志強), Kaohsiung Mayor Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) and Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) on the phone early yesterday morning, asking them to properly handle the situation and adopt a soft approach while negotiating with the protesters.
According to Minister of the Interior Yu Cheng-hsien (余政憲), physical clashes took place at protests in Taichung and Kaohsiung, while protesters dispersed peacefully in Taipei City, Taipei County, Tainan City, Chiayi County and Chunghua County.
The National Police Administration has dispatched 2,800 law enforcement officers to assist local governments to deal with the protests, according to Yu Cheng-hsien.
The premier yesterday urged the public to place their trust in the Central Election Commission (CEC), whose credibility has been called into question by pan-blue supporters.
Responding to the pan-blue camp's criticism of the large number of invalid ballots, Yu said that it might have a lot to do with the campaign of the Alliance of Casting One Million Invalid Ballots (
He said it might also have something to do with the stricter definition of what constitutes an invalid ballot, as stipulated in the revised Presidential and Vice Presidential Election and Recall Law (
The law was revised by the pan-blue dominated legislature last year.
Yu Shyi-kun said that he respected Lien and his leadership, but would like to see them behaving more responsibly.
"I would really hate to see an aimless gathering and a spontaneous protest escalate into something that we may all regret," he said.
"At this critical moment, I'm calling on leaders of the assembled groups to exercise utmost prudence and restraint. While we understand their disappointment, it's simply not worth it to hurt the nation's international image because they've lost one election," the premier said.
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