Scuffles broke out again yesterday at three public hearings on easing a food import ban from five Japanese prefectures close to the site of the 2011 Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant disaster, with people led by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) politicians occupying the stage and calling the meetings illegal.
Ten Japanese food import public hearings aimed at discussing government plans to ease restrictions on food products from Fukushima, Ibaraki, Tochigi, Gunma and Chiba prefecture in two stages were scheduled to be held nationwide from Saturday until today.
The total ban on all food products from the five prefectures was imposed on March 25, 2011, a few days after the nuclear disaster.
Photo: CNA
A Council of Agriculture and Ministry of Health and Welfare joint report to the Legislative Yuan on Monday last week suggested easing the ban.
At a hearing at Taoyuan General Hospital yesterday, members of the public led by Taoyuan city councilors and Legislator John Wu (吳志揚) occupied the speaker’s podium, grabbed officials by the arms to stop them from speaking and chanted “the meeting is invalid.”
A separate hearing in New Taipei City was also interrupted by KMT city councilors and members of the public who were holding signs and calling out “against radiation contaminated food.”
Photo: Huang Yao-cheng, Taipei Times
Some participants asked how the government plans to ensure honest food labeling and thorough border inspections.
More than 200 people led by KMT Legislators Lee Yen-hsiu (李彥秀), Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安), Alex Fai (費鴻泰) and KMT city councilors, as well as representatives of civic groups and the China Unification Promotion Party, gathered at the Agriculture and Food Agency building in Taipei City before the hearing began in the afternoon, to protest against what they said is an illegal hearing.
As people began to occupy the stage, violence broke out in the crowd, with people holding chairs in the air, gripping each other’s clothing and several people pulling and pushing others.
Photo: CNA
The violence was stopped by dozens of police, and one man was seen with blood covering his face.
Lee said the hearings are illegal because they were announced on Thursday evening last week and held three days later, which is against the procedure of announcing public hearings at least 10 to 15 days in advance.
“The government should not sacrifice our lives for trade benefits with Japan,” KMT Taipei City Councilor Wang Hsin-yi (王欣儀) said, adding that there are only 69 border inspectors, but there are more than 640,000 food imports every year.
Photo: Chen Yun, Taipei Times
Council of Agriculture Deputy Minister Chen Chi-chung (陳吉仲) said that the hearings were held on weekends so that people could attend in accordance with legislators’ requests.
“I am sorry that the public hearing cannot proceed in the current climate. Public hearings are for communicating so that everyone can understand policy,” he said.
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