A small group of Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) members yesterday clashed with police when they tried to hang banners bearing the KMT emblem on the East Gate in a show of protest against the Taipei City Government’s decision not to repaint the KMT emblems on the monument.
Shouting “Protect the original form of historical monuments,” four members of the KMT’s Chung-Hsin Elite Class party youth group wearing T-shirts bearing KMT emblems tried to hang the banners on the gate yesterday morning but were stopped by police as they approached the gate.
The police asked the group to disperse, saying they were disturbing social order.
PHOTO: CNA
The group said they were being treated differently from Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Taipei City councilors who earlier this month climbed the gate and painted over one of the monument’s KMT emblems after it was repainted as part of renovation work.
“Why can city councilors [make changes to the monument] but we can’t?” they said.
Yeh Yuan-chih (葉元之), a member of the group, said the city government should not succumb to pressure from the DPP.
Yang Chao (楊超), another member, condemned Taipei City’s Department of Cultural Affairs for its decision.
“Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin [郝龍斌] needs to toughen up and put an end to the humiliation of the KMT emblems,” he said.
The four KMT members then covered the KMT emblems on their T-shirts in whipped cream to protest the actions of the three DPP Taipei City councilors earlier this month.
Hau yesterday condemned the group’s actions and said anyone who damaged the gate would be brought to justice.
The Taipei City Government has also said it would press charges against the councilors.
At the same time, the cultural affairs office said on Thursday that it would not restore the KMT emblems on the East Gate, nor would the KMT emblems be restored on the South Gate and Little South Gate.
Teng Wen-tsung (鄧文宗), a division head at the cultural affairs office, said the city would follow Article 21 of the Culture Heritage Preservation Act (文化資產保存法), which stipulates that all restoration work on national monuments should follow the monument’s original appearance.
DPP Taipei City Councilor Chuang Ruei-hsiung (莊瑞雄), one of the three who painted over the restored KMT emblem, mocked the youth group.
“We were fully prepared when we acted ... They did not have any tools with them and were doomed to fail,” he said.
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