More than 600 locals and expatriates took to the street yesterday to protest against the US-led war in Iraq, clashing with riot police in front of the de facto US embassy in Taipei.
"It's an amazing, amazing and amazing turnout today," said 32-year-old New Zealander Sean Wratt, one of the organizers of an expatriate group called People Performing and Playing for Peace.
"We only had about 150 [participants] three weeks ago," Wratt said as he watched a large number of demonstrators marching along Hsinyi Road before reaching the Taipei office of the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT).
The anti-war demonstration yesterday was the largest in Taipei since mid-February.
Demonstrators gathered yesterday afternoon at Ta-an Park prior to marching. They staged improvised plays, chanted anti-war slogans and carried a black makeshift coffin covered with a white cloth with "Peace" written on it.
A man was placed inside the coffin to symbolize the casualties of war.
With a makeshift Iraqi national flag draped over his shoulders, a theater professional identified by his last name, Duan, said he spent the previous night making the flag and burnt a few holes in it to symbolize the casualties of war.
"Look at the flag. The whole of Iraq is burning," said Duan, 29, who brought his wife and 2-year-old child to join the demonstration.
Holding two containers of milk in his hand, a 33-year-old Palestinian, who would only give his first name -- Yusef -- shouted, "The Iraqi children need milk. They don't need war.
American Matt Nicodemus, 42, said, "America only cares about world opinion when it supports the US position," adding that his presence shows that not all Americans support the war.
As demonstrators reached AIT, they chanted more slogans and displayed anti-war banners as a police contingent of around 100 shield-carrying officers looked on.
When some demonstrators broke through the defensive wall of police to paint the AIT building with anti-war slogans, police rushed to push these protesters away.
Onlookers shouted: "The police are beating us."
"I was pushed away. But at least I painted an anti-war slogan on the wall," said Chen I-chung (陳宜中), an assistant research fellow at Academia Sinica.
The demonstration, backed by more than 30 student, labor and women's groups, drew participants from all walks of life.
National Policy Adviser to the President Peter Huang (黃文雄), writer Chen Yin-chen (陳映真), educator reformer Shih-ying (史英), independent Legislator Sissy Chen (陳文茜) along with various university professors were also among the crowd.
Demonstrators later moved to the British Trade and Cultural Office (BTCO) to deliver the coffin as a symbolic gesture to protest British involvement in the war.
The peace protest ended in front of the Taipei Grand Mosque as demonstrators decorated "Stop the War" letters on a billboard with chrysanthemums.
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