Clashes broke out between Amis Aboriginal demonstrators and police outside the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) headquarters in Taipei yesterday when demonstrators tried to force their way into the building to protest demolition of the Saowac community in Taoyuan County by the county government.
“One, two, three, push! One, two, three, push!” nearly 100 demonstrators shouted as they marched toward KMT headquarters and pushed up against shield-wielding police outside the building.
Some of the demonstrators were injured as they clashed with the police.
PHOTO: CNA
Among the demonstrators clashing with the police was a very well known face.
“My name is Hou Hsiao-hsien [侯孝賢]. I am the person behind the protesters, so come and get me!” the movie director shouted as officers threatened to prosecute demonstration leaders.
“[Taoyuan County Commissioner] Eric Chu [朱立倫], step down! KMT, apologize!” the demonstrators chanted.
Chu is one of the KMT’s eight vice chairmen and was inside the building for a KMT Central Standing Community meeting when the protest took place.
The Amis came from the Saowac and Kanjin (崁津) communities in Taoyuan County and the Sanying Community in Taipei County. The three communities are all inhabited by Amis Aborigines who moved to Taipei and Taoyuan decades ago to work, many in construction jobs, and had built their own houses on the bank of Dahan River (大漢溪) from scavenged materials because they could not afford housing.
However, the communities are located in flood zones where housing is prohibited and the governments of both counties have plans to turn the areas into parks. The Kanjin and Sanying communities are facing demolition, while Saowac was flattened last month.
Angry Saowac residents have staged several protests — including two in front of the Executive Yuan and two outside KMT headquarters — but the only response they have received from central government or county officials has been that more discussions and negotiations would be held.
The Saowac community was demolished a day after Council of Indigenous Peoples Vice Minister Wang Chin-fa (王進發) promised its residents that he would negotiate with the county government for a solution.
Yesterday’s protest followed a similar line. The demonstrators were met by Taoyuan County Indigenous Peoples Department Director Lin Cheng-jung (林誠榮), who promised to look into the issue, and said the demonstrators would receive a response in five days.
“We came here last week, they wanted us to give them a week to hold negotiations, we came back this time, it’s five more days — I don’t have any more expectations from them anymore,” an elderly Saowac resident said.
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