A statue of the Republic of China’s founding father Sun Yat-sen (孫逸仙) in Greater Tainan’s Tang Te-chang Memorial Park was toppled yesterday by members of the Alliance of Referendum for Taiwan.
At about 1pm during a gathering of more than 100 members of the advocacy group, about 20 people wrapped ropes around the bronze likeness and dragged it to the ground in less than one minute.
The alliance’s secretary-general Lee Shu-ju (李述儒) said the Lions Club International, which donated the statue, had previously asked the city government to take it down because its base was damaged.
Photo: Wang Chun-chung, Taipei Times
Lee said public safety inspired his group — which Lee said harbors no opinions against Sun. The life-size statue toppled as soon as members of the alliance gave the ropes a pull.
The alliance said in its defense that residents’ safety could not be put at risk, adding that transitional justice also could not wait, referring to controversy surrounding a statue of the park’s namesake, Tang Te-chang (湯德章).
Tang, a lawyer in Tainan during the 228 Incident, was arrested by Nationalist soldiers while burning a list of the names of participants in the local Settlement Committee.
Tang’s act saved the lives of a number of leading residents and students whose names were on the list and led to his own beating and execution.
The alliance said that some people find it shocking that Tang was honored with a small statue on the park’s periphery, while a full-size bronze statue of Sun was placed in the park’s center.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Greater Tainan councilors arriving at the scene after hearing about the event argued with alliance members while the group’s convener, Tsay Ting-kuei (蔡丁貴), was taken to a police station for questioning.
The KMT city councilors asked why the police did nothing to stop the alliance members. Greater Tainan Police Department Second Precinct Deputy Chief Liu Yi-tsung (劉怡宗) said two officers had tried to stop the alliance members, but the statue still came down.
The officers had immediately called for backup and gathered evidence, Liu said, adding that the police had not just stood by, but had done all they could under the circumstances.
Meanwhile, the city government’s Cultural Affairs Bureau director Yeh Tse-shan (葉澤山) professed incredulity at hearing the news, while bureau official Lin Wei-hsu (林韋旭) said follow-up action had to wait until they could determine the status of the statue as a historical relic, because the procedures for handling relics and non-relics differ.
Additional reporting by Tsai Wen-chu
Alain Robert, known as the "French Spider-Man," praised Alex Honnold as exceptionally well-prepared after the US climber completed a free solo ascent of Taipei 101 yesterday. Robert said Honnold's ascent of the 508m-tall skyscraper in just more than one-and-a-half hours without using safety ropes or equipment was a remarkable achievement. "This is my life," he said in an interview conducted in French, adding that he liked the feeling of being "on the edge of danger." The 63-year-old Frenchman climbed Taipei 101 using ropes in December 2004, taking about four hours to reach the top. On a one-to-10 scale of difficulty, Robert said Taipei 101
Nipah virus infection is to be officially listed as a category 5 notifiable infectious disease in Taiwan in March, while clinical treatment guidelines are being formulated, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday. With Nipah infections being reported in other countries and considering its relatively high fatality rate, the centers on Jan. 16 announced that it would be listed as a notifiable infectious disease to bolster the nation’s systematic early warning system and increase public awareness, the CDC said. Bangladesh reported four fatal cases last year in separate districts, with three linked to raw date palm sap consumption, CDC Epidemic Intelligence
US climber Alex Honnold left Taiwan this morning a day after completing a free-solo ascent of Taipei 101, a feat that drew cheers from onlookers and gained widespread international attention. Honnold yesterday scaled the 101-story skyscraper without a rope or safety harness. The climb — the highest urban free-solo ascent ever attempted — took just more than 90 minutes and was streamed live on Netflix. It was covered by major international news outlets including CNN, the New York Times, the Guardian and the Wall Street Journal. As Honnold prepared to leave Taiwan today, he attracted a crowd when he and his wife, Sanni,
Taiwanese and US defense groups are collaborating to introduce deployable, semi-autonomous manufacturing systems for drones and components in a boost to the nation’s supply chain resilience. Taiwan’s G-Tech Optroelectronics Corp subsidiary GTOC and the US’ Aerkomm Inc on Friday announced an agreement with fellow US-based Firestorm Lab to adopt the latter’s xCell, a technology featuring 3D printers fitted in 6.1m container units. The systems enable aerial platforms and parts to be produced in high volumes from dispersed nodes capable of rapid redeployment, to minimize the risk of enemy strikes and to meet field requirements, they said. Firestorm chief technology officer Ian Muceus said
RSS