A prolonged stand-off between Economic Democracy Union activists and the police took place yesterday after protesters sought to demonstrate against China’s Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits (ARATS) Chairman Chen Deming (陳德銘) in the square in front of the Kelti Building in Taipei.
“There can be no political autonomy without economic autonomy. At a time when the vast majority of citizens are focused on elections, [President] Ma [Ying-jeou (馬英九)] and [Chinese President] Xi [Jinping (習近平)] are scheming to tear apart Taiwan’s economic and political autonomy and create facts on the ground that a transfer of power [following elections next month] would be incapable of reversing,” union convener Lai Chung-chiang (賴中強) said.
About 15 protesters shouted slogans protesting plans to allow Chinese investment in the integrated circuit industry and to allow individual Chinese investors to invest in Taiwanese stocks, as well as ongoing trade in goods negotiations and plans by foreign investors with alleged Chinese connections to acquire Eastern Broadcasting Co.
Photo: Fang Pin-chao, Taipei Times
The protesters conducted their demonstration on the sidewalk in front of the Kelti Building after being removed from the building’s square by police.
“Today, the freedom of speech enjoyed by Taiwanese has shrunk [to the sidewalk],” Lai said. “Even if the police try to block us, we have to come here, because otherwise they will gradually turn [the Kelti Building] into a Chinese concession that uses different laws than the rest of Taipei and Taiwan.”
The Kelti Building houses the offices of the Straits Economics & Cultural Interchange Association and the Bank of China, as well as Chinese associations and firms, and was visited by Chen yesterday to participate in a forum with Chinese firms that have invested in Taiwanese operations.
Lai said that although the square and sidewalk in front of the property are privately owned, they are both “public spaces” open to any member of the public under architectural law.
“This is a sidewalk on which some people walk to work and others go for a walk, but the police say that we cannot be here,” he said.
Protesters forced their way onto the sidewalk from the designated protest zone to which they were initially confined by police, conducting a news conference that was repeatedly interrupted by shoving and broadcasts on loudspeakers from the surrounding police.
Police later allowed the protesters to repeat their demands in the square in front of the building after a half-hour stand-off, during which protesters threatened to march to Taipei City Hall to protest the police’s actions.
Middle-aged protesters from the Free Taiwan Party (FTP) arrived on the site shortly afterward and were promptly surrounded and blocked from entering the square by police, leading to a second stand-off.
Economic Democracy Union activists greeted FTP members' cries for help with silence, quietly dispersing from the square after they had finished reiterating their own demands.
“We are deeply distressed. If the people of Taiwan are incapable of pulling together and only focus on the interests and reputation of a few groups, annexation by China is just a matter of time,” FTP Chairman Tsay Ting-kuei (蔡丁貴) said before leaving the site.
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