Several rounds of clashes erupted between protesters and the police as demonstrators tried both to push through and pull down the gate and fences of the Legislative Yuan in Taipei yesterday to get into the building to observe the voting on a proposed referendum on the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant.
More than 100 people from civic groups, brought together by the Taiwan Environmental Protection Union (TEPU), joined the protest against nuclear power and the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) referendum proposal on the fate of the plant in Gongliao (貢寮), New Taipei City (新北市).
The protesters began by staging a sit-in in the morning to listen as representatives took turns voicing their concerns, criticizing the “bird-cage” Referendum Act (公民投票法), calling for a end to the use of nuclear power in Taiwan and urging lawmakers not to go against public opinion.
Photo: Wang Yi-sung, Taipei Times
“With the current referendum threshold requiring at least 50 percent of eligible voters to cast votes [for a referendum to be valid], the proposed question would be very difficult to approve, according to previous national referendum outcomes,” TEPU founding chairperson Shih Hsin-min (施信民) said.
The public is concerned about the construction quality at the plant, given the many corruption cases linked to the project that have already been uncovered, Shih said.
“Stopping the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant is the consensus of the public, so the government should not spend so many resources to hold a referendum,” he said.
Photo: CNA
“A responsible government should provide clear explanations about its construction projects to the public and guarantee public safety,” said Shih Ying (史英), chairman of the Humanistic Education Foundation.
President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) has asked KMT legislators to pass the proposed referendum during the second extraordinary legislative session — as if nuclear safety and the referendum are two separate issues, which shows just how disconnected the government is, Shih Ying said.
“It is like the principal of an elementary school who knows that the lunches prepared for the students have gone bad, but insists that the children should vote on whether they want to eat them,” said Liu Chin-hsin (劉進興), a former professor at National Taiwan University of Science and Technology.
Photo: CNA
Near noon, Alliance of Referendum for Taiwan convener Tsay Ting-kuei (蔡丁貴) led protesters to one of the gates of the Legislative Yuan’s compound and told police officers lined up on the other side that the protesters “would ask three times to enter the Legislative Yuan as owners of the nation” to monitor the voting session.
If their request was refused, they would use stronger measures to try to enter the building, Tsay said.
After being told that it was against legislative rules to allow them in, the protesters began pushing at the gates.
While the pushing and shoving was taking place on one side of the compound, a senior-high school student surnamed Yu (游) was able to climb over the fence on the other side.
Police officers took him to the compound’s parking lot, where he sat quietly on the ground holding a sign that read “Stop construction of the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant.”
The demonstrators took a break before tackling the gates again in the afternoon, led by Tsai and 908 Taiwan Republic Campaign convener Peter Wang (王獻極). The attempt to get through the gates became more heated, as efforts were made to pull down the fences with ropes while water balloons, animal feces and paper leaflets were thrown over the fences.
After several short clashes, the police allowed Tsai and Wang through the gates to take up a spot next to Yu in the parking lot. However, no protester made it into the building.
GOOD DIPLOMACY: The KMT has maintained close contact with representative offices in Taiwan and had extended an invitation to Russia as well, the KMT said The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) would “appropriately handle” the fallout from an invitation it had extended to Russia’s representative to Taipei to attend its international banquet last month, KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday. US and EU representatives in Taiwan boycotted the event, and only later agreed to attend after the KMT rescinded its invitation to the Russian representative. The KMT has maintained long-term close contact with all representative offices and embassies in Taiwan, and had extended the invitation as a practice of good diplomacy, Chu said. “Some EU countries have expressed their opinions of Russia, and the KMT respects that,” he
CHANGES: After-school tutoring periods, extracurricular activities during vacations or after-school study periods must not be used to teach new material, the ministry said The Ministry of Education yesterday announced new rules that would ban giving tests to most elementary and junior-high school students during morning study and afternoon rest periods. The amendments to regulations governing public education at elementary schools and junior high schools are to be implemented on Aug. 1. The revised rules stipulate that schools are forbidden to use after-school tutoring periods, extracurricular activities during summer or winter vacation or after-school study periods to teach new course material. In addition, schools would be prohibited from giving tests or exams to students in grades one to eight during morning study and afternoon break periods, the
Advocates of the rights of motorcycle and scooter riders yesterday protested in front of the Ministry of Transportation and Communications in Taipei, making three demands. They were joined by 30 passenger vehicles, which surrounded the ministry to make three demands related to traffic regulations — that motorcycles and scooters above 250cc be allowed on highways, that all motorcycles and scooters be allowed on inside lanes, and that driver and rider training programs be reformed. The ministry said that it has no plans to allow motorcycles on national highways for the time being, and said that motorcycles would be allowed on the inner
AMENDMENT: Contact with certain individuals in China, Hong Kong and Macau must be reported, and failure to comply could result in a prison sentence, the proposal stated The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) yesterday voted against a proposed bill by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers that would require elected officials to seek approval before visiting China. DPP Legislator Puma Shen’s (沈伯洋) proposed amendments to the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例), stipulate that contact with certain individuals in China, Hong Kong and Macau should be reported, while failure to comply would be punishable by prison sentences of up to three years, alongside a fine of NT$10 million (US$309,041). Fifty-six voted with the TPP in opposition