The campaign aimed at ousting President Chen Shui-bian (
Protesters had pledged to stay on Ketagalan Boulevard until they were "dragged away" by the police.
Shih Ming-teh (
"We are willing to yield to make things easier for Mayor Ma and the police," Shih said on Ketagalan Boulevard.
Taipei City Police Department Commissioner Wang Cho-chun (
The police department said it planned to deploy 1,500 police officers to maintain order as the crowd traveled to the station.
Ma yesterday lauded campaign organizers for their willingness to cooperate with the city government, while declining to confirm speculation by CTI TV that Shih had agreed to leave Ketagalan Boulevard after a phone conversation with the Taipei mayor.
As Shih's campaign prepared for its nationwide tour yesterday, which departs from Taipei tomorrow with Hsinchu City as its first stop, Wei Yao-chian (
Shih, meanwhile, lashed out at Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) officials, including Kaohsiung County Commissioner Yang Chiu-hsing (楊秋興), for refusing to grant the movement access to certain locations.
"Yang used to hold protests around the nation with me, and now he is trying to repress the people's right to express their opinions ... How dare you?" Shih said.
Yang, before attending the DPP's Central Executive Committee meeting yesterday afternoon, told the press that he would not approve requests to assemble or march from the Shih camp.
He said he expected conflicts to occur because county police were understaffed after some 300 officers were sent to Kaohsiung City last week to assist in controlling clashes between Shih's followers and Chen's supporters.
Yang said the anti-Chen protests organized by Shih's "red army" had delivered a blow to his county's economy.
While a Japanese company had expressed interest in relocating a plant from China to Kaohsiung County, Yang said he was distraught to learn that the firm had ultimately decided to go elsewhere because of the on-going anti-Chen protests.
Acting Kaohsiung Mayor Yeh Chu-lan (
Chiayi County Commissioner Chen Ming-wen (
Meanwhile, in a related development, Chen Feng-nan (
Additional reporting by Shelley Shan
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