More than 100 protesters from a number of Kaohsiung groups yesterday demonstrated outside the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) headquarters in Taipei, saying that Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chu (陳菊) has ignored residential, environmental and labor rights.
“We have to let President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) know what the people of Kaohsiung are thinking, because after Chen was re-elected there have been a number of incidents, but basically no channels for us to make our voices heard,” Kaohsiung Civil Servant Watch president Chen Ming-pin (陳銘彬) said, adding that many demonstrators left their homes as early as 4am to arrive in the capital in time for the mid-morning protest.
He accused Chen Chu — who was a prominent political prisoner and human rights activist during the Martial Law era — of failing to live up to promises she made to promote human rights, particularly pledges to end forced evictions.
Photo: CNA
“President Tsai has said the DPP should be humble and communicate with the people, but that attitude is not at all apparent in Kaohsiung,” Chen Ming-pin said. “In its drive to promote development, the city government has turned a deaf ear to the voice of the people.”
He called on the Kaohsiung City Government to immediately halt pending forced evictions and to release all information pertaining to its policy decisions, in a bid to allow greater civic participation.
Protesters performed a skit, in which an actor playing Chen Chu pasted “administration in accordance to the law” to the heads of demonstrators representing different causes, and held up signs condemning her alleged “eviction tragedies” (遷悲), a play on Tsai’s promises of DPP “humility” (謙卑), both of which are pronounced qian bei in Mandarin.
The immediate impetus for yesterday’s protest was a demolition scheduled for today of a section of homes next to a fruit and vegetable market in Kaohsiung’s Sanmin District (三民) to make way for city-sponsored construction, Chen Ming-pin said.
“Chen Chu has been mayor for more than 10 years, but she has never hosted even a single official negotiation meeting on our case. Can she really be considered to be a mayor willing to communicate with the people?” said Wu Fu-hsiung (吳富雄), the head of the residents’ self-help association.
Protesters from Kaohsiung’s Lujhu (路竹) and Hunei (湖內) districts said the city government failed to promptly publish online that a controversial iron wire and screw factory had passed an environmental review.
“At the time, not one of us residents knew,” self-help group director Tsai Chun-chi (蔡春紀) said, calling Chen Chu “domineering” for her handling of the case, which residents say will result in the pollution of neighboring farmland.
Chang Chih-chun (張智鈞), one of the residents’ lawyers, said that the Kaohsiung City Government rejected an appeal of the factory’s environmental review because it was filed too late, which forced the residents to file a lawsuit.
National Association for Firefighters’ Rights secretary-general Cheng Ya-lin (鄭雅菱) said Chen Chu broke promises to protect the rights of firefighters when she approved the dismissal of firefighter and prominent labor rights advocate Hsu Kuo-yao (徐國堯) for his membership in the organization.
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