Protesters plan to gather at Taipei 101 on Saturday to join other people around the world in staging their own version of the “Occupy Wall Street” demonstration that has continued throughout the US for almost a month.
The protest will be a peaceful gathering and will take the form of a group discussion outside the landmark skyscraper, initiators said.
They are hoping the first “Occupy Taipei” action, which was initiated on Facebook, will attract at least 1,000 people.
“Together we want to stand up and make a change in the world — a bit of the world — for everybody,” said Kimba Vetten, a South African who is one of the initiators of the protest.
Occupy Wall Street began on Sept. 17 in New York and had since spread to other cities in the US and beyond in protest against social and economic inequalities as well as corporate greed.
Although the Taiwanese economy is not as bad as those of the US or Greece, there are still things that could be done to make it better, said Vetten, who lives in Yilan County with her husband and two children, aged eight and 11.
She said the organizers, formed via the Web, has encountered some problems of misinformation.
Someone was spreading a rumor on the “Occupy Taipei” Facebook page that foreigners who join such a protest could face the risk of detention or deportation, Vetten said. This has led to fear among people who want to attend the event, she said.
However, Vetten said, she checked with the National Immigration Agency (NIA) and was told that arrests would be made only in the case of violence or vandalism.
“I don’t think anything bad will happen because the people who are going all have the same idea — it’s a peaceful thing toward change. There’s no hatred,” she said.
So far, more than 3,100 people have “liked” the Facebook page and about 1,000 have said they planned to attend, Vetten said.
However, she said, the actual number is likely to be higher as the information is being spread via other Internet channels and by means of pamphlet handouts on the street.
“But I’d be happy if we only have 100 people, you know, because we have already started,” she said.
RULES TIGHTENED: Passengers arriving from Sydney and Los Angeles tested positive for COVID-19, while passengers arriving from Seattle all tested negative Seventeen of the 217 passengers who arrived on long-haul at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport yesterday morning tested positive for COVID-19, the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) said, adding that the positivity rate was higher than expected. Yesterday was the first day that the government enforced stricter health guidelines for the testing of passengers arriving on long-haul flights. They must undergo a polymerase chain reaction test immediately after arriving at the nation’s international airports. Those who test positive are sent directly to hospitals to avoid spreading the virus to people working in and around the airports and at quarantine hotels. Victor Wang (王必勝),
‘NEW YEAR GIFT’: While the MAC called the song propaganda, China’s Taiwan Affairs Office said that it addressed the homesickness of ‘Taiwanese compatriots’ A pro-unification pop song aired on Chinese television earlier this month would only further sour Taiwanese sentiment toward China, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said on Wednesday. The music video for We Sing the Same Song (我們同唱一首歌), which aired on China Central Television, features Chinese artists performing alongside Taiwanese singers Jam Hsiao (蕭敬騰), Ouyang Nana (歐陽娜娜) and Chen Li-nong (陳立農). The lyrics were reportedly written by Taiwanese lyricist Vincent Fang (方文山), known for his collaborations with Jay Chou (周杰倫), to music composed by a Chinese musician. Sung in Chinese and Hoklo (commonly known as Taiwanese), the song is about three Taiwanese siblings who
President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) administration is seeking to join an Indo-Pacific economic framework being planned by the US, a senior official said. The government is paying close attention to the regional economic pact being touted by US President Joe Biden, although too few details have emerged from Washington for Taipei to make specific plans, the official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity. The US is expected to launch the Indo-Pacific economic framework next month after negotiations with Australia, India and Japan, the official said. The economic initiative is to tackle trade facilitation, standards for the digital economy and technology, supply-chain resiliency and
‘CHAOS’: Victor Wang, the CECC’s on-site commander at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, said testing of arrivals has sped up in time to meet holiday demand For now, people are not banned from eating and drinking on trains, despite the rise in locally transmitted cases of COVID-19, Minister of Transportation and Communications Wang Kwo-tsai (王國材) told reporters on the sidelines of a meeting of the legislature’s Transportation Committee yesterday. “On Sunday, the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) announced that the nation would remain on a level 2 COVID-19 alert until at least Jan. 24. So we will follow the center’s disease prevention guidelines for passengers on public transport systems,” Wang said. However, bus and train depots have been asked to disinfect facilities more frequently, he said. The center’s new
RSS