Facing the Ministry of Justice’s decision that the remaining houses in Taipei’s Huaguang Community (華光社區) would be demolished within three days starting yesterday, nearly 200 residents and activists yesterday marched in the capital to protest the forced removal of Huaguang residents, while calling for “living justice.”
After setting up a simple altar with fruit on it and a wooden sign that reads: “living justice” on a corner of the old community — which they said represented a parting ceremony for the community and the death of justice — the activists bowed their heads in tribute before heading off on their march.
Dozens of young activists carried wooden doors, window frames, ladders and other furniture on their shoulders as they joined the protest march.
Photo: Wang Yi-sung, Taipei Times
“We will use our bodies to show the government that what they are relentlessly tearing down are people’s homes,” a representative of the group said. “The [then-Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT)] government tacitly agreed for people to build homes in the community after the Nationalist government retreated to Taiwan in 1949. The government also did not impose residential planning controls during the periods of migration from rural to urban areas in the 1970s, and allowed more people to move into the area, but now it wants to erase its mistakes through violent demolitions.”
Holding a portrait of his deceased mother at the protest, a 60-year-old man surnamed Chen (陳) said his mother, Cheng Yi-mei (鄭依妹), had bought a house in the community with money she made working as a domestic servant for more than 40 years. However, five years ago, aged 87, she was faced with a “cold-blooded and cruel government” that threatened to fine her for benefiting from “illegal occupation” of government land if she did not move.
“She has done nothing to deserve being continually threatened over the past five years until her death this year... Many residents had no choice but to move because they could not cope with the heavy fines, which included interest payments of 5 percent, but I will not give in, not only for my mother, but because I can’t stand a government that treats its people like dirt,” Chen said.
Ho Hui-fen (侯惠芬), whose husband was born and raised in the community, said her parents-in-law have always abided by the law, paid their water and electricity bills, and have lived in Huaguang all their lives after they came to Taiwan, so it is unfair that they are suddenly forced to move and asked to pay a fine of more than NT$6 million (US$200,000).
Another protester, a young woman in her early 20s, said she began caring about similar controversial developments, including the Losheng (Happy Life) Sanatorium (樂生療養院) and the Wenlin Yuan (文林苑) urban renewal project, when she was a university student, and joined the movement for the rights of Huaguang residents because “the government always uses empty promises of economic development to repress underprivileged groups in society.”
In front of the Executive Yuan, activists staged three dramas, expressing that the public are hurting and bleeding as the government uses lawsuits against them; are being made homeless by land expropriations and demolitions; and are dying as the government hands down heavy fines while benefiting from offering regained land to companies for commercial use.
After the parade ended on Ketagalan Boulevard near noon, activists held an impromptu protest in front of the Ministry of Justice, where clashes with police broke out with several activists forcibly removed, put on police buses and dropped off at other locations.
Four activists were required to give their personal information to police before being released.
FAST TRACK? Chinese spouses must renounce their Chinese citizenship and pledge allegiance to Taiwan to gain citizenship, some demonstrators said Opponents and supporters of a bill that would allow Chinese spouses to obtain Taiwanese citizenship in four years instead of six staged protests near the Legislative Yuan in Taipei yesterday morning. Those who oppose the bill proposed by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) demanded that Chinese spouses be granted citizenship only after renouncing their Chinese citizenship, passing a citizenship test and pledging allegiance to Taiwan. The demonstrators, who were protesting at a side entrance to the Legislative Yuan on Jinan Road, were mostly members of the Taiwan Association of University Professors and other organizations advocating Taiwanese independence. Supporters of the bill, led
SILENT MAJORITY: Only 1 percent of Chinese rejected all options but war to annex Taiwan, while one-third viewed war as unacceptable, a university study showed Many Chinese are more concerned with developments inside their country than with seeking unification with Taiwan, al-Jazeera reported on Friday. Although China claims Taiwan as its own territory and has vowed to annex it, by force if necessary, 23-year-old Chinese Shao Hongtian was quoted by al-Jazeera as saying that “hostilities are not the way to bring China and Taiwan together.” “I want unification to happen peacefully,” Shao said. Al-Jazeera said it changed Shao’s name to respect his wish for anonymity. If peaceful unification is not possible, Shao said he would prefer “things to remain as they are,” adding that many of his friends feel
Taiwan has “absolute air superiority” over China in its own airspace, Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) told a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee on Monday, amid concern over whether Taipei could defend itself against a military incursion by Beijing. Po made the remarks in response to a question from Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Chiu Chih-wei (邱志偉) on whether Taiwan would have partial or complete air superiority if Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) warplanes were to enter Taiwan’s airspace. Po, a retired pilot, said that the Taiwanese military has “absolute air superiority” over PLA
A shipment of basil pesto imported by Costco Wholesale Taiwan from the US in the middle of last month was intercepted at the border after testing positive for excessive pesticide residue, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said yesterday. Samples taken from a shipment of the Kirkland Signature brand of basil pesto imported by Costco contained 0.1 milligrams per kilogram of ethylene oxide, exceeding the non-detectable limit. Ethylene oxide is a carcinogenic substance that can be used as a pesticide. The 674kg shipment of basil pesto would either be destroyed or returned to its country of origin, as is the procedure for all