Free Taiwan Party Chairman (FTP) Tsay Ting-kuei (蔡丁貴) and his supporters yesterday clashed with pro-unification groups at the Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) Memorial Hall’s Liberty Square in Taipei, leaving several people hurt.
Tsay and his supporters were assembling for a 228 Peace Memorial Day demonstration against the memorial, demanding the removal of a Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) statue that they said is an “authoritarian totem.”
Pro-unification groups, including the China Unification Promotion Party (CUPP), held a counter-demonstration near the square, which led to violence later in the day.
Tsay made a speech prior to the altercation.
FTP and CUPP supporters reportedly exchanged racially charged slurs throughout the day, such as Zhina (支那, a derogatory term for China) and Wokou (倭寇, a derogatory term for Japanese).
Following his speech, Tsay tried to enter the square, but was prevented by police from doing so.
Campaigners from both sides then entered the square through other entrances, resulting in verbal and physical altercations.
Several CUPP members allegedly pushed into the crowd to forcibly take banners from pro-independence campaigners and tore them to pieces.
Tsay said Chiang was “a genocidaire” and demanded that President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) issue an executive order to remove Chiang’s statutes from public places, adding that Taiwan must become independent and overthrow “the Republic of China government-in-exile.”
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