The student protesters staging a "hunger strike" at the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall yesterday were alleged by fellow students to have worked with the pan-blue camp even as they claimed to be politically neutral.
The university students, numbering no more than 15 at a time, have been staging a sit-in and "hunger strike" since last Friday in an appeal to the government to establish a "truth task force" to investigate the shooting of President Chen Shui-bian (
PHOTO:CHIANG YING-YING, TAIPEI TIMES
Students are taking turns going without food for 12 hours, labeling the action a "hunger strike."
Tien Wei-li (
He was taken to the National Taiwan University Hospital for treatment before being released.
"I hope President Chen can come to talk to us," a teary Tien said at the hospital, adding that he did not regret joining the sit-in.
Another hunger-striking student surnamed Chu took himself to the hospital by taxi after he began to feel dizzy.
Doctors at the hospital said the condition of both students was stable and that they could be immediately discharged.
Tien and Chu then returned to the scene of the protest yesterday afternoon and continued their "hunger strike."
Chen Cheng-feng (
"The students can't go on forever. I hope President Chen can show up promptly and respond to our appeal," he said.
Meanwhile, a Chinese major at NTU, Lin Yu-lun (
Lin displayed photographs showing what he said were some of the hunger-striking students standing with KMT Chairman Lien Chan (
"Chen [Cheng-feng] in fact had close connections to the KMT but kept saying he did not belong to any party," Lin said.
"These students are not as neutral as they claimed. I urge them to stop saying they represent the voice of university students and urge them not to be the tools of political parties," he said.
"We oppose political interference with student movements and using the image of students in furthering political goals," Lin said. "We cannot accept it."
Lin said he agreed that everyone had the right to express an opinion, but he questioned why this group of students had covered up their political connections, claiming instead that they were all neutral.
"We hope the controversy [over the election result] can be solved through legal channels rather than irrational protests," he added.
Late in the day, Presidential Office spokesman James Huang (
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