Activists against a wind turbine construction project in Miaoli County’s Yuanli Township (苑裡) yesterday criticized wind energy firm InfraVest over violent acts by security guards during a protest by local residents at the construction site.
Showing pictures of construction site security guards and workers clashing verbally and physically with protesters at 2am yesterday morning, activists accused InfraVest of attempting to illegally continue wind turbine construction early in the morning before the Bureau of Energy was due to hold a special meeting on wind turbines later yesterday morning and allowing its workers and security guards to attack protesters who tried to stop the construction.
“Early in the morning, at about 2am, InfraVest sent in a construction crew which tried to restart wind turbine construction. We local residents tried to stop them and the construction workers and security guards used violence against us,” said Liu Yu-yu (劉育育), a Yuanli resident and a member of a local self-help organization, at a brief press conference outside the Bureau of Energy in Taipei as the meeting took place inside. “Some of the elderly residents were beaten, hit in the face, and a security guard even hit a resident’s face with a small rock he picked up from the ground.”
Photo: Tsai Cheng-min, Taipei Times
Showing injury diagnosis certificates issued by a hospital, Liu said police officers were standing aside and doing nothing when the violence occurred.
“We are not against green energy, we support it, but we believe that the well-being of local residents should be taken into consideration when wind turbines are erected,” Liu said.
Yeh Ting-kui (葉丁貴), another resident of Yuanli, said the company attempted to restart the construction in the early hours of the morning because it knew local residents were heading to the Bureau of Energy in Taipei to protest outside the meeting.
“I wonder if the Bureau of Energy and InfraVest set the whole thing up?” Yeh asked.
Originally, some residents were invited to attend, but they were upset that not everyone affected would be allowed into the meeting and therefore all those who oppose the wind turbine project decided not to attend the meeting in protest.
Yuanli residents have been protesting the project for more than a year.
While not opposed to wind power, residents said they were upset about the proximity of some of the turbines to their homes, worrying that low-frequency noise from the machines may disturb them and that their safety could be threatened should fans from the turbines break off — an incident that has occurred in Taoyuan County, although there were no buildings or anyone close by when the fan fell off.
TRAVEL CONFERENCE: Representatives from the two countries exchanged views on how to increase tourist numbers, with one identifying individual travel as a trend Taiwan and South Korea aim to increase the number of tourists traveling between the two countries to 3 million, government and tourism industry representatives said at a conference in Hsinchu City yesterday. The annual event was attended by Deputy Minister of Transportation and Communications Chen Yen-po (陳彥伯); Tourism Bureau Director-General Chang Shi-chung (張錫聰); Taiwan Visitors Association chairwoman Yeh Chu-lan (葉菊蘭); South Korean Representative to Taiwan Chung Byung-won; Yoon Ji-sook, an official at the South Korean Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism; and Korea Association of Travel Agents chairman Oh Chang-hee. Global tourism is expected to soon rebound to between 55 and
HASTY PLAN: Instructors must teach in a language they are not fluent in, while students are forced to learn new subjects in a tongue they do not know, teachers said The National Federation of Teachers Unions (NFTU) yesterday urged the government to thoroughly review its Bilingual 2030 policy, saying it has caused problems in elementary and high schools, and might affect the quality of education in other subjects. The government on March 28 changed its original “Bilingual Nation 2030” plan to the “Bilingual 2030” plan, no longer aiming to turn Taiwan into a Mandarin-English bilingual nation by 2030, NFTU president Hou Chun-liang (侯俊良) told a news conference in Taipei. Despite the change, the policy’s budget, resources and most of its content remain the same, causing unusual scenes on campuses, he said. Cheng Chi-yi
‘STILL RISKY’: The quarantine requirement for arrivals cannot be lifted, as COVID-19 cases have been rising in Europe and the US, the minister of health and welfare said The government might consider dropping a negative COVID-19 test result requirement for travelers from low-risk countries, but lifting the quarantine requirement for inbound travelers is still risky, the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) said yesterday. The CECC on Monday said it does not plan to further loosen border controls soon. National Taiwan University Children’s Hospital superintendent Huang Li-min (黃立民) said the “3+4” quarantine policy separates inbound travelers from family members for only three days, which is not enough to block the spread of the virus, so the government might consider changing it to a “0+7” policy. He also said that it might
Taiwanese singer Miu Chu (朱俐靜) passed away over the weekend after a battle with breast cancer, her family announced yesterday. She was 40 years old. The family wrote on Chu’s Facebook fan page that she died peacefully. “Thank you all for your concern. Miu, who was always full of laughter and always brought people positive energy with her music, left us peacefully on July 3,” the family said. The family asked for privacy at this time and said that details of a memorial service would be announced later. Chu was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2020. She was an alumna of the TV reality show
RSS