Hundreds of people yesterday marched in Taipei to mark the 71st anniversary of the 228 Incident, calling on the government to continue promoting transitional justice.
Campaigners from 48 groups, including the Taiwan Association for Human Rights, the Nylon Cheng Liberty Foundation and the Judicial Reform Foundation, solemnly read out the names of Incident victims as they walked through historical sites linked to the event, including the Tianma Tea House (天馬茶房), the site of a former Tobacco Monopoly Bureau office, a radio station occupied by protesters during the Incident and the Executive Yuan, which served as the headquarters of then-Taiwan governor Chen Yi (陳儀).
On Feb. 27, 1947, Lin Chiang-mai (林江邁), a woman illegally selling cigarettes, was struck by a bureau agent outside the Tianma Tea House on Nanjing W Road. When fleeing an angry crowd, an agent fatally shot and killed a bystander.
Photo: Cheng Hung-ta, Taipei Times
The event escalated into a series of protests against the then-Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) regime, resulting in a violent crackdown that left tens of thousands of people dead.
Later that year, the KMT imposed martial law, which marked the beginning of what is now known as the White Terror era.
This year’s procession has two major purposes: The first is to urge the government to uncover more truths about the 228 Incident, Nylon Cheng Liberty Foundation managing director Cheng Tsing-hua (鄭清華) said.
Photo: Wang Yi-sung, Taipei Times
“We need to rediscover the history of injustice, including the oppression of Aborigines,” Cheng said.
The other is to promote awareness of human rights, he said, adding that this year marks the 70th anniversary of the UN General Assembly’s adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
“Last year, non-governmental organization worker Lee Ming-che (李明哲) was detained and sentenced to imprisonment in China — which was a serious violation of human rights. Taiwan must stand up against it,” Cheng said. “We hope that by organizing this event every year people will be reminded of the importance of history and human rights.”
Although the government in December last year passed the Act on Promoting Transitional Justice (促進轉型正義條例), the campaigners urged the government to do more to help the families of Incident victims.
Many documents related to the Incident remain unavailable to the public, Taiwan Association for Human Rights secretary-general Chiu Ee-ling (邱伊翎) said.
“Many people want to know how their relatives died in the Incident, but still cannot know,” Chiu said.
She also urged the government to speed up reinvestigations of problematic trials.
“Article 9 of the National Security Act (國安法) bars any attempt to reverse verdicts by courts martial during the Martial Law period, meaning many people were unable to appeal. Will their cases be reinvestigated now?” Chiu said.
The government also needs to do more to promote awareness about transitional justice and improve human rights education, she said.
The procession concluded with a prayer and singing as participants scattered flower petals on the street.
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