Several groups, including opponents of pension reform, yesterday staged protests outside the Taipei Municipal Stadium during the Summer Universiade opening ceremony.
Hundreds of pensioners rallied at Meiren Park before setting out on a march around the barricaded stadium, during which they shouted slogans demanding that President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) step down.
Tainan Police Fraternity members blasted air horns near an entrance just as people started arriving at the stadium. They broke through a police line to march down Beining Road in an attempt to approach the venue.
Photo: Peter Lo, Taipei Times
“We are not the ones who blocked this off, you are,” fraternity executive secretary Chen Ching-tsung (陳金宗) said after police blocked the marchers.
Protestors said they wanted to “cheer for the Republic of China team” and scuffled with police before joining other groups in a march around the cordoned-off security zone.
Police erected barriers along both sides of Dunhua, Bade and Nanjing roads.
Photo: Huang Yao-cheng, Taipei Times
“We are not interfering with the event site — there should not be anything wrong with protesting outside,” said Taiwan Veteran Rights Protection Association president Huang Cheng-chung (黃正忠), one of the protest organizers, adding that organizers wanted to attract Tsai’s attention.
“We want to make sure President Tsai does not feel good because she caused us a lot of suffering,” Taiwan Education Retirees Association director Alice Wu (吳錦秀) said, referring to pension cuts passed in June. “Many foreigners have come here and we want them to know how the government treats its soldiers, teachers and civil servants.”
Pensioners were not the only group staging protests outside the stadium.
A group of Tibetans draped in their national flags protested “illegal Chinese expansion” meters away from Chinese Unification Promotion Party members waving the Chinese flag.
Green-and-white symbolic “Taiwan” flags were a common sight outside the stadium, as members of the pro-independence Taiwan Radical Wings Party rallied to promote their cause.
Several thousand of the flags were printed using donations from Taiwanese living in the US, the party’s publicity and public opinion department deputy directory Joyce Lin (林春妙) said.
While the right to carry the flags into the venue caused contention after the Taipei City Government banned political materials other than the Republic of China flag, enforcement was lax with numerous people carrying the flags past police officers and into the stadium, while one woman was required to discard her flag.
The Chinese-language Liberty Times (sister newspaper of the Taipei Times) yesterday reported that Taipei police decided it would not tolerate any such flags as they contain explicitly political messages such as “Taiwan is not the Republic of China.”
Tropical Storm Gaemi strengthened into a typhoon at 2pm yesterday, and could make landfall in Yilan County tomorrow, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. The agency was scheduled to issue a sea warning at 11:30pm yesterday, and could issue a land warning later today. Gaemi was moving north-northwest at 4kph, carrying maximum sustained winds near its center of up to 118.8kph and gusts of 154.8kph. The circumference is forecast to reach eastern Taiwan tomorrow morning, with the center making landfall in Yilan County later that night before departing from the north coast, CWA weather forecaster Kuan Shin-ping (官欣平) said yesterday. Uncertainty remains and
SEA WARNING LIKELY: The storm, named Gaemi, could become a moderate typhoon on Wednesday or Thursday, with the Taipei City Government preparing for flooding A tropical depression east of the Philippines developed into a tropical storm named Gaemi at 2pm yesterday, and was moving toward eastern Taiwan, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Gaemi could begin to affect Taiwan proper on Tuesday, lasting until Friday, and could develop into a moderate typhoon on Wednesday or Thursday, it said. A sea warning for Gaemi could be issued as early as Tuesday morning, it added. Gaemi, the third tropical storm in the Pacific Ocean this typhoon season, is projected to begin moving northwest today, and be closest to Taiwan on Wednesday or Thursday, the agency said. Today, there would likely
DISRUPTIONS: The high-speed rail is to operate as normal, while several airlines either canceled flights or announced early departures or late arrivals Schools and offices in 15 cities and counties are to be closed today due to Typhoon Gaemi, local governments announced last night. The 15 are: Taipei, New Taipei City, Taoyuan, Tainan, Keelung, Hsinchu and Kaohsiung, as well as Yilan, Hualien, Hsinchu, Miaoli, Chiayi, Pingtung, Penghu and Lienchiang counties. People should brace for torrential rainfall brought by the storm, with its center forecast to make landfall on the east coast between tonight and tomorrow morning, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The agency issued a sea warning for the typhoon at 11:30pm on Monday, followed by a land warning at 11:30am yesterday. As of
CASUALTY: A 70-year-old woman was killed by a falling tree in Kaohsiung as the premier warned all government agencies to remain on high alert for the next 24 hours Schools and offices nationwide are to be closed for a second day today as Typhoon Gaemi crosses over the nation, bringing torrential rain and whipping winds. Gaemi was forecast to make landfall late last night. From Tuesday night, its outer band brought substantial rainfall and strong winds to the nation. As of 6:15pm last night, the typhoon’s center was 20km southeast of Hualien County, Central Weather Administration (CWA) data showed. It was moving at 19kph and had a radius of 250km. As of 3pm yesterday, one woman had died, while 58 people were injured, the Central Emergency Operation Center said. The 70-year-old