Chains and gas tanks were not enough to stop the demolition of a housing complex abutting the Kaohsiung Fruit and Vegetable Market in the city’s Sanmin District (三民) yesterday, with protesters withdrawing after an extended stand-off.
After the demolition work was completed, self-help association head Wu Fu-hsiung (吳富雄) called a retreat, with dozens of students marching from the site shouting “land justice” and promising to carry on their “judicial struggle.”
“We fought hard, but even though we lost this battle — being no match for the oppression of an authoritarian system — our struggle will not stop here,” student protester Lin Chih-yu (林致宇) said.
Photo: Chang Chung-yi, Taipei Times
“Given that the demolition has already become a reality, there is no need for unnecessary sacrifices,” said Wu, who at one point moved to prostrate himself to thank the protesters.
The demolition closed the latest chapter of more than 40 years of controversy involving the homes, with residents accusing the city government of illegally expropriating the land in the 1960s as part of the construction of the fruit and vegetable market.
In the 1970s, the Ministry of the Interior ordered the city government to review its land expropriation process, leading to negotiations that have dragged out ever since, coming to a head this year as a result of development plans.
Residents and activists held a demonstration overnight on Wednesday in a bid to stop the demolition, chaining themselves together next to make-shift barricades.
Residents held photographs of deceased loved ones and placed several gas tanks around themselves, threatening an explosion if the demolition was forced.
The stand-off lasted several hours.
Protesters were demanding that the city put the demolition on hold until lawsuits regarding the city’s plans were resolved, self-help association assistant Tseng Wei-tang (曾維堂) said.
The Kaohsiung Bureau of Agriculture said that the demolition was necessary for city development and to resolve traffic and flooding issues, adding that 99 of the site’s 120 households had agreed to the relief measures.
It earlier offered to relocate landowners and provide a year of rental subsidies to people forced to move.
Additional reporting by CNA
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