More than 100 protesters from more than 30 civic groups yesterday marched against forced evictions, calling for land development and urban renewal to be halted until related laws and regulations are reviewed.
Shouting “solidarity” and “zero eviction” in English and Chinese, protesters threw shoes at a cardboard box barrier on Ketagalan Boulevard in front of the Presidential Office Building in Taipei. The barrier was covered with slogans representing a lack of public participation, abuse of public power to further private interests and a lack of avenues of relief under current rules.
“There are all sorts of shortcomings with current land policy, including the laws themselves and their implementation. We want a comprehensive policy review, with a freeze on all controversial cases until it is completed,” said Hsu Shih-chung (許世忠), spokesman for the International Tribunal on Evictions, an opinion court the groups hosted a session for on Saturday to raise awareness of housing rights.
“Land appropriation policy has not fully implemented requirements for the views of residents to be respected, resulting in discussions with residents being reduced to a formality and expropriations occurring by force when residents disagree,” he said.
The march began at the former Huaguang Community (華光社區), stopping outside the Ministry of Transportation and Communications to protest the ministry’s role in the promotion of land expropriation and development in connection with prominent infrastructure, including plans to expand Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport and to move Tainan’s railway line underground.
“The ministry has already turned land development into infrastructure policy, using it to subsidize the costs of major projects, which means that residents affected by MRT and light rail construction and road expansion all face ‘looting’ evictions,” said Chen Chih-hsiao (陳致曉), spokesman for a self-help association of homeowners affected by Tainan’s railway project.
Demonstrators representing eviction cases in seven nations participated in yesterday’s march, along with domestic activists from across the nation.
“This march is important to us, because we are extremely grateful the International Tribunal on Evictions has brought attention to our case,” said Hsueh Chiung-mei (薛?美), a member of a self-help association for residents of a Kaohsiung fruit and vegetable market, who added that the Kaohsiung City Government has been unresponsive to their plight.
Cheng Yuan-wen (鄭淵文), head of a self-help association for residents of Kaohsiung’s Dagouding (大溝頂), said participating in the protest was aimed at forcing the Kaohsiung City Government to address their case.
“We hope that people across Taiwan will hear about our case, because the Kaohsiung City Government will not pay any attention to us otherwise,” he said.
Taiwan would benefit from more integrated military strategies and deployments if the US and its allies treat the East China Sea, the Taiwan Strait and the South China Sea as a “single theater of operations,” a Taiwanese military expert said yesterday. Shen Ming-shih (沈明室), a researcher at the Institute for National Defense and Security Research, said he made the assessment after two Japanese military experts warned of emerging threats from China based on a drill conducted this month by the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) Eastern Theater Command. Japan Institute for National Fundamentals researcher Maki Nakagawa said the drill differed from the
‘WORSE THAN COMMUNISTS’: President William Lai has cracked down on his political enemies and has attempted to exterminate all opposition forces, the chairman said The legislature would motion for a presidential recall after May 20, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday at a protest themed “against green communists and dictatorship” in Taipei. Taiwan is supposed to be a peaceful homeland where people are united, but President William Lai (賴清德) has been polarizing and tearing apart society since his inauguration, Chu said. Lai must show his commitment to his job, otherwise a referendum could be initiated to recall him, he said. Democracy means the rule of the people, not the rule of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), but Lai has failed to fulfill his
A fugitive in a suspected cosmetic surgery fraud case today returned to Taiwan from Canada, after being wanted for six years. Internet celebrity Su Chen-tuan (蘇陳端), known as Lady Nai Nai (貴婦奈奈), and her former boyfriend, plastic surgeon Paul Huang (黃博健), allegedly defrauded clients and friends of about NT$1 billion (US$30.66 million). Su was put on a wanted list in 2019 when she lived in Toronto, Canada, after failing to respond to subpoenas and arrest warrants from the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office. Su arrived at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport at 5am today on an EVA Air flight accompanied by a
A rally held by opposition parties yesterday demonstrates that Taiwan is a democratic country, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday, adding that if opposition parties really want to fight dictatorship, they should fight it on Tiananmen Square in Beijing. The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) held a protest with the theme “against green communists and dictatorship,” and was joined by the Taiwan People’s Party. Lai said the opposition parties are against what they called the “green communists,” but do not fight against the “Chinese communists,” adding that if they really want to fight dictatorship, they should go to the right place and face
RSS