A protest against an urban development project in Taipei’s Shilin District (士林) yesterday descended into violence after the construction firm involved sent workers to clean up the site, drawing new attention to a controversial project that has been stalled for more than three years.
The urban renewal project, approved by the Taipei City Government, has been stalled despite the government sanctioning the demolition of two houses belonging to a family surnamed Wang (王), who were against the project. The family and a group of supporters have camped out at the site ever since and are insisting that the construction firm rebuild their houses.
The latest clash occurred yesterday morning when Le Young Construction Co (樂揚建設) placed a dumpster on the site and started to clean up debris.
Photo: Huang Chi-hao, Taipei Times
The move was met with a protest by the Wang family and their supporters, who pushed and shoved the construction workers, accusing them of trespassing on private property.
Amid the clashes, a member of the Urban Renewal Victims’ Alliance, surnamed Kuo (郭), accused construction workers of pushing him and tearing his pants, while police stood by.
“The urban renewal project is a violent collaboration between the city government and the construction firm,” he said.
Some construction workers also accused the protesters of injuring them during the clashes and they filed complaints with the police.
The construction company defended the legitimacy of its actions by producing a document that it claimed said the city government had asked the firm to clean up the site ahead of further construction.
However, the city’s Construction Management Office denied issuing any document asking the construction firm to clean up the site.
The Taipei City Government has been criticized over its handling of the project, under which the construction firm plans to turn an old residential complex of 38 households into a 15-story high-rise apartment block. It evicted the Wang family in March, despite ongoing protests, and later agreed to help the Wang family and the construction firm negotiate over the project.
Members of the Wang family yesterday said they would not agree to the project unless the construction firm rebuilt their houses on the site.
Although the family has refused to give up its land, the construction firm had already received the consent of more than 75 percent of the landowners on the site. However, the deadlock over the project continues as negotiations between the construction firm, the Wang family and the other landowners have failed to reach an amicable conclusion.
The government is aiming to recruit 1,096 foreign English teachers and teaching assistants this year, the Ministry of Education said yesterday. The foreign teachers would work closely with elementary and junior-high instructors to create and teach courses, ministry official Tsai Yi-ching (蔡宜靜) said. Together, they would create an immersive language environment, helping to motivate students while enhancing the skills of local teachers, she said. The ministry has since 2021 been recruiting foreign teachers through the Taiwan Foreign English Teacher Program, which offers placement, salary, housing and other benefits to eligible foreign teachers. Two centers serving northern and southern Taiwan assist in recruiting and training
WIDE NET: Health officials said they are considering all possibilities, such as bongkrekic acid, while the city mayor said they have not ruled out the possibility of a malicious act of poisoning Two people who dined at a restaurant in Taipei’s Far Eastern Department Store Xinyi A13 last week have died, while four are in intensive care, the Taipei Department of Health said yesterday. All of the outlets of Malaysian vegetarian restaurant franchise Polam Kopitiam have been ordered to close pending an investigation after 11 people became ill due to suspected food poisoning, city officials told a news conference in Taipei. The first fatality, a 39-year-old man who ate at the restaurant on Friday last week, died of kidney failure two days later at the city’s Mackay Memorial Hospital. A 66-year-old man who dined
‘CARRIER KILLERS’: The Tuo Chiang-class corvettes’ stealth capability means they have a radar cross-section as small as the size of a fishing boat, an analyst said President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday presided over a ceremony at Yilan County’s Suao Harbor (蘇澳港), where the navy took delivery of two indigenous Tuo Chiang-class corvettes. The corvettes, An Chiang (安江) and Wan Chiang (萬江), along with the introduction of the coast guard’s third and fourth 4,000-tonne cutters earlier this month, are a testament to Taiwan’s shipbuilding capability and signify the nation’s resolve to defend democracy and freedom, Tsai said. The vessels are also the last two of six Tuo Chiang-class corvettes ordered from Lungteh Shipbuilding Co (龍德造船) by the navy, Tsai said. The first Tuo Chiang-class vessel delivered was Ta Chiang (塔江)
EYE ON STRAIT: The US spending bill ‘doubles security cooperation funding for Taiwan,’ while also seeking to counter the influence of China US President Joe Biden on Saturday signed into law a US$1.2 trillion spending package that includes US$300 million in foreign military financing to Taiwan, as well as funding for Taipei-Washington cooperative projects. The US Congress early on Saturday overwhelmingly passed the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act 2024 to avoid a partial shutdown and fund the government through September for a fiscal year that began six months ago. Under the package, the Defense Appropriations Act would provide a US$27 billion increase from the previous fiscal year to fund “critical national defense efforts, including countering the PRC [People’s Republic of China],” according to a summary