The Taipei City Government yesterday fined the organizer of the anti-President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) campaign for damaging the asphalt on Ketagalan Boulevard during a Sunday night rally, during which 300,000 lit candles were placed on the ground to form a Chinese character satirizing the president.
Lee Shu-chuan (李四川), director of the city government's New Construction Department, said that although the campaign organizer used water to clear up the candle wax on the ground after the rally, the boulevard remained slippery and dangerous for vehicles.
Lee said that the department had to mobilize 20 staffers and 18 machines to relay the road surface, adding that the work cost the government between NT$400,000 (US$12,000) and NT$500,000.
Lee said that the department would confiscate the campaign's rally deposit, adding that the department had sought further compensation from the campaign's organizers.
About 2,000 protesters staged a rally on the boulevard in front of the Presidential Palace on Sunday night to celebrate the first anniversary of the campaign to depose Chen.
Participants at the protest used 300,000 candles to form the Chinese character pi (屁, fart) in an attempt to ridicule the president.
The candles, however, left wax stains that were hard to remove from the road surface.
The city government's Environmental Protection Department gave the campaign five tickets with the total fine amounting to NT$6,000 on Sunday night for failure to get rid of the stains after the protest.
Yao Li-ming (姚立明), deputy director of the campaign, said that they would accept responsibility for the consequences of the rally as stipulated in the Assembly and Parade Law (集會遊行法).
However, the city government should present detailed receipts to explain why the campaign needed to pay up to NT$500,000, he said.
Local TV news channels reported that the New Construction Department did not finish paving the boulevard until around 8:30am yesterday.
The construction work caused traffic jams in the area during rush hour yesterday morning, local channels reported.
In related developments, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) caucus whip Wang Tuoh (
He urged the leader of the campaign, former DPP chairman Shih Ming-teh (施明德), to examine his own behavior rather than "continue to cause social unrest."
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