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Wild Strawberry reports support for rally from overseas

The Wild Strawberry Student Movement has received support from overseas Taiwanese groups over its planned rally on Sunday, a representative of the movement said yesterday.

Chan Kun-feng (湛昆峰), who is in charge of the movement’s communication with the international community, told the Taipei Times that a number of overseas Taiwanese groups had decided to take to the streets on the same day.

Information provided by Chan said that the “Club des Taiwanais,” an organization primarily composed of Taiwanese students in France, would stage a protest at the Human Rights Plaza at Trocadero, Paris, at 3:30pm on Sunday.

During the protest, the Club des Taiwanais will deliver a speech to “strongly condemn Taiwan’s setback in democracy.”

“It has been one month since the Ma [Ying-jeou (馬英九)] administration ordered the police to deprive Taiwanese of their freedom to assemble, but there is no sign indicating [the government is willing] to apologize and take responsibility,” said a statement issued by the organization in France. “[The administration] seriously damaged Taiwan’s image as a free democracy and turned a deaf ear to the human rights issue highlighted by the people and the students of the Wild Strawberry [Student Movement].”

In Tokyo, democracy activists from the disbanded Taiwan Political Prisoner Rescue Association are organizing a rally in support of the students in Taipei, Chan said. Members of the Taiwanese American community in San Diego, California, are also planning to sponsor an event at the San Diego Taiwan Center on the day of the rally, Chan said.

In Taipei, some members of the Hoping for Hoping Peace Fest (和平音樂季) are planning to put on a concert of international support for the movement at the Liberty Square next Tuesday evening.

The student protesters are demanding that Ma and Premier Liu Chao-shiuan (劉兆玄) apologize and that National Police Agency (NPA) Director-General Wang Cho-chiun (王卓鈞) and National Security Bureau Director-General Tsai Chao-ming (蔡朝明) resign from their posts over what they called police brutality against protesters during a visit by a Chinese delegation last month.

The students also called for immediate amendments to the Assembly and Parade Law (集會遊行法) to scrap the requirement that demonstrators secure a permit from police.

Student protesters are planning to begin their march without police approval at 1pm to the Executive Yuan, the NPA and the Legislative Yuan, before heading to the Presidential Office along Ketagalan Boulevard.

In related news, the North America Taiwanese Professors’ Association (NATPA) is inviting two representatives from the Wild Strawberry Student Movement to meet with the American Institute in Taiwan and US State Department officials and attend UN’s Human Rights Day events next Wednesday.
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