A pork knuckle restaurant in Taoyuan on Tuesday said that it would change its billboard showing its wares and a cartoon pig out of respect for its neighbor, the historic Longgang Mosque (龍岡).
The restaurant, which opened at Jhongjhen Market last month, sparked an outcry from mosque goers, who said that pigs are seen as unclean in their religion and the smell of pork is nauseating to them.
Taoyuan City Councilor Shu Tsui-ling (舒翠玲) said that her office had received multiple complaints about the sign since the restaurant opened.
Photo: Hsu Cho-hsun, Taipei Times
After visiting the restaurant, she determined that the owner was unaware the sign could cause offense and secured their promise to remove it, Shu said.
The mosque’s prayer hall was established in 1964 by former fighters from Burmese and Cambodian guerrilla groups that were backed by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), who later settled in Taoyuan.
As the Taipei Grand Mosque was too far away, the community raised funds and built a prayer hall, which was expanded in 1989.
When asked to comment, one worshiper at the mosque said it is common knowledge that Muslims do not eat pork.
“While it is legal to open a restaurant, there was no need to put that billboard with the pig right next to the sign for the mosque,” they said.
“A lot of migrant workers pray at this mosque and this kind of behavior creates the impression that Taiwanese do not respect other religions,” they added.
The restaurant said it would change its billboard by the middle of the month.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫), spokeswoman Yang Chih-yu (楊智伃) and Legislator Hsieh Lung-chieh (謝龍介) would be summoned by police for questioning for leading an illegal assembly on Thursday evening last week, Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) said today. The three KMT officials led an assembly outside the Taipei City Prosecutors’ Office, a restricted area where public assembly is not allowed, protesting the questioning of several KMT staff and searches of KMT headquarters and offices in a recall petition forgery case. Chu, Yang and Hsieh are all suspected of contravening the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法) by holding
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