Thousands of protesters staged a demonstration in a Taipei County suburb yesterday to voice their support for the demolition of Lo Sheng Sanatorium and the mandatory eviction of its residents next month.
Sinjhuang is home to Lo Sheng Sanatorium, where thousands of people with Hansen's disease were once quarantined for life.
A plan to tear down most of the buildings on the 17-hectare site to make room for a Mass Rapid Transportation (MRT) depot has met with strong opposition.
PHOTO: WANG YI-SUNG, TAIPEI TIMES
Earlier this month, Taipei County authorities posted an eviction notice for Lo Sheng's residents ahead of the construction work.
A crowd, mobilized by lawmakers elected from the district and local politicians, marched from Sinjhuang City Hall to Lo Sheng Sanatorium while chanting slogans and holding up signs yesterday.
"We want the MRT for our survival!" Demonstrators shouted along the way.
The crowd consisted of around 8,000 people, police estimated.
The demonstrators said that the completion of an MRT line connecting Sinjhuang to Taipei was critical to the city's economic prosperity.
"Our hopes for improvement in Sinjhuang's economy lie in the MRT line, and we want no more delays," said Chang Lu-jui (
Chang and many other demonstrators say the controversy over Lo Sheng's preservation is responsible for delays in the completion of the MRT line.
"We the people of Sinjhuang have treated the lepers well enough, now they have to give in and make a sacrifice for the public," Chang said.
Taipei County Commissioner Chou Hsi-wei (
"We've waited for three years, do we want to wait any longer?" Chou asked the demonstrators in front of the Lo Sheng sanatorium.
In his speech, Chou also rejected a plan that aims to preserve 90 percent of buildings in the sanatorium while extending the construction period by only three to four months.
"The students [who support Lo Sheng's preservation] said that the 90 percent plan would only extend the construction period by three to four months," he said. "But it'll take at least one year or even longer."
The 90 percent preservation plan was proposed by some construction specialists in Taiwan based on evaluations by a UK construction consultant firm.
Supporters of Lo Sheng's preservation said yesterday they'd like to see the completion of the line.
"Of course we want to see the completion of the MRT line, it's good for everyone, that's why we called an open review of the 90 percent preservation plan," a preservationist said.
But Chou took the hard line.
"We posted a notice [for demolition] on March 16. When the deadline comes on April 16, the county government will act according to the law unless the Executive Yuan decides otherwise," Chou told the crowd.
also see story:
Why Lo Sheng must be preserved
Kenting National Park service technician Yang Jien-fon (楊政峰) won a silver award in World Grand Prix Photography Awards Spring Season for his photograph of two male rat snakes intertwined in combat. Yang’s colleagues at Kenting National Park said he is a master of nature photography who has been held back by his job in civil service. The awards accept entries in all four seasons across six categories: architectural and urban photography, black-and-white and fine art photography, commercial and fashion photography, documentary and people photography, nature and experimental photography, and mobile photography. Awards are ranked according to scores and divided into platinum, gold and
More than half of the bamboo vipers captured in Tainan in the past few years were found in the city’s Sinhua District (新化), while other districts had smaller catches or none at all. Every year, Tainan captures about 6,000 snakes which have made their way into people’s homes. Of the six major venomous snakes in Taiwan, the cobra, the many-banded krait, the brown-spotted pit viper and the bamboo viper are the most frequently captured. The high concentration of bamboo vipers captured in Sinhua District is puzzling. Tainan Agriculture Bureau Forestry and Nature Conservation Division head Chu Chien-ming (朱健明) earlier this week said that the
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus yesterday said it opposes the introduction of migrant workers from India until a mechanism is in place to prevent workers from absconding. Minister of Labor Hung Sun-han (洪申翰) on Thursday told the Legislative Yuan that the first group of migrant workers from India could be introduced as early as this year, as part of a government program. The caucus’ opposition to the policy is based on the assessment that “the risk is too high,” KMT caucus secretary-general Lin Pei-hsiang (林沛祥) said. Taiwan has a serious and long-standing problem of migrant workers absconding from their contracts, indicating that
SPACE VETERAN: Kjell N. Lindgren, who helps lead NASA’s human spaceflight missions, has been on two expeditions on the ISS and has spent 311 days in space Taiwan-born US astronaut Kjell N. Lindgren is to visit Taiwan to promote technological partnerships through one of the programs organized by the US for its 250th national anniversary. Lindgren would be in Taiwan from Tuesday to Saturday next week as part of the US Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs’ US Speaker Program, organized to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) said in a statement yesterday. Lindgren plans to engage with key leaders across the nation “to advance cutting-edge technological partnerships and inspire the next generation of scientists and engineers,”
RSS