Political pressures were likely behind the Taipei City Government's change of heart in publicizing an estimate of the size of the crowds that attended Saturday's pro-President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) rally on Ketagalan Boulevard, a political observer said.
"The city police are under a tremendous amount of pressure whether they make public the number or not," said Wang Kung-yi (
However, once they decide not to offer a figure, they should not change their position, he said.
PHOTO: CHEN TSE-MING, TAIPEI TIMES
He said that pressure could have come from both the Taiwan Society, which orchestrated the pro-Chen rally, and the anti-Chen group led by former Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) chairman Shih Ming-teh (
Taipei police authorities originally refused to reveal an estimate of the number of people who attended Sat-urday's rally on the boulevard, saying that there was always a large discrepancy between crowd figures estimated by event organizers and those estimated by authorities.
However, they changed their mind later Saturday night and announced that about 55,000 people had turned up. The rally organizers put the number at more than 200,000.
Wang said that turnout was important in demonstrations orga-nized by private groups such as the Taiwan Society or Shih's group.
"Privately organized demonstrations are unlike rallies organized on the eve of elections, where candidates know the result the following day," he said. "For private organizers, the number of participants signifies power."
There is often a wide disparity between estimates given by event organizers and city police.
On Friday night, when Shih's camp staged a "siege" march from in front of the Presidential Office to the Taipei Railway Station, the organizers estimated that more than 1 million people turned up, but police had a much lower estimate of 320,000 to 360,000.
Earlier on Sept. 9, the day when the around-the-clock anti-Chen sit-in began, the organizer claimed that the turnout was 300,000, but city police put the number at around 100,000.
The next day, despite the fact that there were visibly smaller crowds than on Saturday, the organizers of the anti-Chen protest claimed that even more people showed up than on the first day of the sit-in.
They said that 500,000 protesters had shown up, while city police estimated the crowd at 10,000 people.
Lin Ming-hua (
The demonstration was orchestrated to demand the "truth" about the election-eve assassination attempt, which many pan-blue supporters believe was staged by Chen despite any solid evidence to back up their theories.
Lin said that the city police originally refused to publicize the number of participants in Satur-day's rally on Ketagalan Boulevard, but they were told by the police chief at around 10:45pm to make it public.
Lin said that the official numbers were reliable because they were calculated using a formula.
Taking Friday's "siege" march as an example, Lin said that police estimated 40,000 people could fill 1km of the road that protesters walked down. As the march stretched more than 5.5km, the police estimated that about 220,000 people were on the street. On top of that number, city authorities figured that about 140,000 more were scattered along Ketagalan Boulevard and elsewhere, making the total number 360,000.
Regarding Saturday's pro-Chen rally, Lin said that their estimate was that 20,000 to 30,000 people filled Ketagalan Boulevard from Chongqing South Road to Gongyuan Road.
About 25,000 more were added because demonstrators spilled over to Jing Fu Men (景福門), the traditional-style gate in the traffic circle at one end of the boulevard.
Chinese spouse and influencer Guan Guan’s (關關) residency permit has been revoked for repeatedly posting pro-China videos that threaten national security, the National Immigration Agency confirmed today. Guan Guan has said many controversial statements in her videos posted to Douyin (抖音), including “the red flag will soon be painted all over Taiwan” and “Taiwan is an inseparable part of China,” and expressing hope for expedited reunification. The agency last year received multiple reports alleging that Guan Guan had advocated for armed reunification. After verifying the reports, the agency last month issued a notice requiring her to appear and explain her actions. Guan
A preclearance service to facilitate entry for people traveling to select airports in Japan would be available from Thursday next week to Feb. 25 at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, Taoyuan International Airport Corp (TIAC) said on Tuesday. The service was first made available to Taiwanese travelers throughout the winter vacation of 2024 and during the Lunar New Year holiday. In addition to flights to the Japanese cities of Hakodate, Asahikawa, Akita, Sendai, Niigata, Okayama, Takamatsu, Kumamoto and Kagoshima, the service would be available to travelers to Kobe and Oita. The service can be accessed by passengers of 15 flight routes operated by
GIVE AND TAKE: Blood demand continues to rise each year, while fewer young donors are available due to the nation’s falling birthrate, a doctor said Blood donors can redeem points earned from donations to obtain limited edition Formosan black bear travel mugs, the Kaohsiung Blood Center said yesterday, as it announced a goal of stocking 20,000 units of blood prior to the Lunar New Year. The last month of the lunar year is National Blood Donation Month, when local centers seek to stockpile blood for use during the Lunar New Year holiday. The blood demand in southern Taiwan — including Tainan and Kaohsiung, as well as Chiayi, Pingtung, Penghu and Taitung counties — is about 2,000 units per day, the center said. The donation campaign aims to boost
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) said a magnitude 4.9 earthquake that struck off the coast of eastern Taiwan yesterday was an independent event and part of a stress-adjustment process. The earthquake occurred at 4:47pm, with its epicenter at sea about 45.4km south of Yilan County Hall at a depth of 5.9km, the CWA said. The quake's intensity, which gauges the actual effects of a temblor, was highest in several townships in Yilan and neighboring Hualien County, where it measured 4 on Taiwan's seven-tier intensity scale, the CWA said. Lin Po-yu (林柏佑), a division chief at the CWA's Seismological Center, told a news conference
RSS