The Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) and civic groups yesterday urged supporters to participate in various protests to be held around President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) inauguration ceremony on May 20 to voice their discontent with the administration.
At a massive protest at Huashan 1914 Creative Park, arranged by the TSU for the morning of May 20, people will be invited to throw eggs at a giant LCD screen broadcasting Ma’s inauguration ceremony, TSU Chairman Huang Kun-huei (黃昆輝) said.
Held on the heels of the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) rally the previous day, which will end at the park, the protest is scheduled to begin at 8am and protesters plan to march to “as close as we can get” to the Presidential Office, Huang said.
Photo: Liu Hsin-de, Taipei Times
The TSU’s demonstration intends to highlight Ma’s “cheating the people,” including betraying his pledges to return the ill-gotten party assets of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and to freeze the prices of fuel and electricity that he had made before the presidential election, Huang said.
The pro-independence Taiwan Nation Alliance has also announced it would stage a four-day protest between May 17 and May 20 on Chingtao E Rd.
Hakka groups in Miaoli, Hsinchu and Taoyuan counties are set to announce their support for the DPP’s protest today at Yimin (Heroes) Temple in Miaoli County.
The groups said in a press release that they would call on Hakka to attend the May 19 rally and voice their anger over Ma’s poor performance, in particular his neglect of infrastructure and cultural preservation in Hakka-populated regions.
Civic groups led by the Alliance of Referendum for Taiwan have scheduled protests from May 13 through May 21 at the Taipei Railway Station.
There has also been an ongoing anti-Ma protest in Taipei — a sit-in by a group of young DPP city councilors on Ketagalan Boulevard.
UPGRADE: The Kang Ding-class frigate is replacing its Chaparall missiles with Tien Chien II and Hua Yang VLS, which would provide it with long-range, 360° air defense Taiwan plans to produce 1,200 to 1,376 Hai Chien II missiles (海劍二, Sea Sword II) — also known as TC-2N — to serve as the standard air defense system of the navy’s surface combatant fleet, a source said yesterday. Last week, the Hai Chien II, the naval version of the Tien Kung II missile (天劍二, Sky Sword II), completed a live-fire test in waters off the National Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology’s Jiupeng facility (九鵬) in Pingtung County’s Manjhou Township (滿州). The MIM72 Chaparral and other dated air defense missiles that currently arm Taiwanese ships have inadequate range to combat Chinese
REASONS FOR TRAVEL: An assistant professor said that proposed amendments to penalize drivers if they used drugs overseas would not deter people from traveling People who operate a motor vehicle under the influence of marijuana would have their driver’s license revoked, even if they used the substance while overseas, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications said yesterday, citing proposed amendments to the Road Traffic Management and Penalty Act (道路交通管理處罰條例). The amendments would also authorize the government to revoke the licenses of people determined to have used Category 1 or Category 2 narcotics, even if they were not operating a vehicle while under the influence of drugs, as well as ban them from taking the license test for three years, the ministry said. People aged 18 or
Johanne Liou (劉喬安), a Taiwanese woman who shot to unwanted fame during the Sunflower movement protests in 2014, returned to Taiwan last night after being deported from the US. She is to stand trial in Taiwan for charges involving embezzlement, fraud and drug crimes. The Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB) said it took her into custody at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport and would first question her before transferring her to the New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office. She was arrested upon disembarking a flight from San Francisco that landed shortly before 7pm. Liou absconded to the US in 2019 after jumping bail
Shih Hsin University President Chen Ching-he (陳清河) yesterday issued a public apology for comments made in his commencement speech last week, stating that he has asked the school to suspend his duties and halt his wages for two months as a show of contrition. At the commencement ceremony on May 30, Chen said, “If you don’t manage your time well, or your own emotions, or your health, then I am telling every one of you — put a quick end to ‘you,’ because the world has no need for ‘you.’” The comments have sparked significant controversy online, and Chen through an open