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CROSS-STRAIT CHALLENGE: Protesters find novel ways to voice discontent

A pair of girls enjoy themselves at yesterday’s rally in Taipei City. PHOTO: CHANG CHIA-MING, TAIPEI TIMES

Demonstrations against the Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) administration’s China policies in Taipei and Kaohsiung yesterday also provided an opportunity for participants to show their creativity as they took to the streets.

One man in Taipei was spotted wearing an upside-down bamboo basket, the kind used by farmers to carry produce, on his head as a hat with a banner reading “With the ECFA passed, farmers will eat shit.”

Another protester, surnamed Wang (王), wore a backpack that carried a banner reading, “Fuck, where is 6-3-3?” referring to Ma’s campaign pledge last year that Taiwan’s annual economic growth would be 6 percent, per capita GDP would be US$30,000 and the unemployment rate would be reduced to 3 percent if he were elected.

“I’m here today because the unemployment rate has risen to a historic high, affecting many families,” the 54-year-old Wang said.

Wang said he had voted for Ma in last year’s presidential election, but Ma had failed to deliver on most of his campaign promises.

Protesters beat a horse balloon denouncing President Ma Ying-jeou during a rally in Taipei yesterday organized by the Democratic Progressive Party against Ma’s policies of engagement with China. PHOTO: WALLY SANTANA, AP

“I pay about NT$400,000 in tax each year, but this money goes to supporting a rice-bug [Taiwanese slang for useless] government — as a taxpayer I feel that I am Ma’s boss and he has done a terrible job,” Wang said.

Another protester dressed his dog in a shirt that read: “I veto Ma,” while other dog owners had wrapped their pets with colorful protest banners.

Yen Jen-song (顏仁崧) manned a stall on Ketagelan Boulevard selling sun-blocking fishermen’s hats to the protesters. The banner on the 33-year-old’s stall read: “Anti-Ma sun-blocking hats, capable of blocking Chinese UV-rays.”

Protesters dressed as Roman soldiers wait at Dinghao Square on Zhongxiao E Rd yesterday for yesterday’s rally to begin. Their shields reads “A green capital city.” PHOTO: CNA

Yen, who used to be a real estate agent before the economic downturn, said he now works in the service sector because the real estate market had been hard hit by the downturn.

Another group of protesters wore bamboo leaf hats, used by farmers to shield themselves from the sun, that were decorated with yellow ribbons bearing a variety of slogans, including: “The government sucks.”

One man was seen wearing a plastic apron that had words comparing Ma with Wu Sangui (吳三桂), a Ming Dynasty militant who has historically been considered a traitor to his emperor because he opened the gates of the Great Wall at the Shanghai Pass to let Manchu soldiers into China.

Meanwhile, in Kaohsiung, many demonstrators also carried homemade placards and props.

One marcher held an umbrella plastered with colorful posters and slogans, while another was spotted wearing mask with a sign that said “Say no to Ma influenza.”

A couple drew a horse with its four legs pointing up with the words “corrupted Ma, step down.” The character for Ma’s surname also means “horse.”

Just as some protesters in Taipei attacked a large horse-shaped balloon with sticks, the couple invited marchers to hit their “horse” with canes, water bottles or whatever they had on hand.

Some placards had pictures of Ma with the caption “Recall the defective product.” When one such placard was dropped, people nearby rushed to trample it.
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