Pro-independence organizations said yesterday they would hold an anti-government demonstration in Kaohsiung on May 17 to complement a rally planned by the DPP in Taipei.
The groups said they would demonstrate on May 17 in protest of the government’s China policies.
At a joint press conference, the groups said it would be difficult to rent enough buses to send people in central and southern Taiwan who wanted to demonstrate to the rally in Taipei. For this reason, they would organize a rally in Kaohsiung on the same day.
Former presidential adviser Koo Kuang-min (辜寬敏) said the DPP and pro-independence groups could find only 1,000 buses to take people to Taipei, whereas if a rally were held in Kaohsiung, it would likely attract more than 100,000.
Koo said those who would like to demonstrate but live in Taichung or north of Taichung could go to Taipei, while those who live south of Taichung could go to the Kaohsiung rally.
World United Formosans for Independence chairman Ng Chiau-tong (黃昭堂) said the proposed rally in Kaohsiung was not intended as a boycott of the DPP, but was meant to complement the rally.
On whether the Kaohsiung demonstration could detract from the rally in Taipei, DPP Secretary-General Wu Nai-jen (吳乃仁) said the protest in the capital was the main event.
The party would ask its supporters to join the Taipei rally, he said, and did not anticipate any problems.
“The DPP has held many rallies over the last 20 years and it hasn’t been difficult for people from around the country to gather in Taipei,” he said.
Kenting National Park service technician Yang Jien-fon (楊政峰) won a silver award in World Grand Prix Photography Awards Spring Season for his photograph of two male rat snakes intertwined in combat. Yang’s colleagues at Kenting National Park said he is a master of nature photography who has been held back by his job in civil service. The awards accept entries in all four seasons across six categories: architectural and urban photography, black-and-white and fine art photography, commercial and fashion photography, documentary and people photography, nature and experimental photography, and mobile photography. Awards are ranked according to scores and divided into platinum, gold and
More than half of the bamboo vipers captured in Tainan in the past few years were found in the city’s Sinhua District (新化), while other districts had smaller catches or none at all. Every year, Tainan captures about 6,000 snakes which have made their way into people’s homes. Of the six major venomous snakes in Taiwan, the cobra, the many-banded krait, the brown-spotted pit viper and the bamboo viper are the most frequently captured. The high concentration of bamboo vipers captured in Sinhua District is puzzling. Tainan Agriculture Bureau Forestry and Nature Conservation Division head Chu Chien-ming (朱健明) earlier this week said that the
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus yesterday said it opposes the introduction of migrant workers from India until a mechanism is in place to prevent workers from absconding. Minister of Labor Hung Sun-han (洪申翰) on Thursday told the Legislative Yuan that the first group of migrant workers from India could be introduced as early as this year, as part of a government program. The caucus’ opposition to the policy is based on the assessment that “the risk is too high,” KMT caucus secretary-general Lin Pei-hsiang (林沛祥) said. Taiwan has a serious and long-standing problem of migrant workers absconding from their contracts, indicating that
SPACE VETERAN: Kjell N. Lindgren, who helps lead NASA’s human spaceflight missions, has been on two expeditions on the ISS and has spent 311 days in space Taiwan-born US astronaut Kjell N. Lindgren is to visit Taiwan to promote technological partnerships through one of the programs organized by the US for its 250th national anniversary. Lindgren would be in Taiwan from Tuesday to Saturday next week as part of the US Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs’ US Speaker Program, organized to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) said in a statement yesterday. Lindgren plans to engage with key leaders across the nation “to advance cutting-edge technological partnerships and inspire the next generation of scientists and engineers,”
RSS