Calls to “fight to the finish” by pension reform opponents drew a tepid response yesterday as protester numbers continued to dwindle, with only a scattering gathered outside the Legislative Yuan in Taipei as the bill enters its final stretch.
“If the Democratic Progressive Party [DPP] refuses to budge, we will adopt the harshest possible protest measures and a scorched-earth strategy,” National Federation of Teachers’ Unions director-general Huang Yao-nan (黃耀南) said.
He blasted rumors that the final DPP version would be even harsher than that approved by the National Pension Reform Commission, tripling the speed at which preferential savings accounts would be eliminated and pension replacement ratios lowered.
Photo: Chien Jung-fong, Taipei Times
He said his federation and other groups affiliated with the Alliance for Monitoring Pension Reform had issued a mobilization call late on Wednesday following the breakdown of cross-caucus negotiations.
However, no protesters were visible outside the Legislative Yuan at 9am — the prescribed congregation time — with only about 100 sprinkled around a short section of Qingdao Road by noon, a far cry from the thousands who had participated in previous protests packing multiple side roads and neighboring blocks.
In contrast, more than 300 police were mobilized to man the Legislative Yuan complex barricades and numerous nearby street corners, Zhongzheng First Police Precinct Chief Inspector Jason Yu (于增祥) said.
Speeches from the protesters’ loudspeaker truck had by the afternoon largely died down, with protesters instead sitting and milling about in small groups.
Huang attributed the low numbers to the late-night notification, saying that tour buses from the nation’s center and south would bring in more people today with plans to camp on-site until review is completed, although he might return to Hualien County today for a meeting.
Numbers dwindled to about 70 protesters by the evening.
“We do not have any real hope for what will happen in the general assembly, because the passage of reform is just matter of time,” National Civil Servant Association president Harry Lee (李來希) said, adding that they hope for more engagement from pensioners after pension cuts begin to bite.
“We want to take this battle to the end of next year or the legislative elections the following year so we can rectify the DPP’s legislative majority and do [pension reform] over again,” he said, downplaying the possibility of a court reversal of the bill after it passes.
He had previously compared the DPP legislative majority to a “body-crushing tank,” saying that a future legal battle after the legislation wins passage “looks unavoidable.”
Protester numbers have dropped steadily since a high in March, when their leadership — including Lee — left after occupying a key intersection.
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