Thirty years after a demonstration in Kaohsiung turned into a brutal confrontation between the pro-democracy opposition and the authorities on Dec. 10, 1979, the Kaohsiung City Government is sponsoring a series of commemorative activities to mark the struggle for democracy and human rights.
The Kaohsiung City Government and various civic groups started the commemorative program last month, including seminars, a photograph and archive exhibition, a concert, a two-day symposium starting today and a rally slated for today in downtown Kaohsiung.
Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chu (陳菊), one of the opposition activists who attended the rally in front of the Kaohsiung headquarters of Formosa Magazine (美麗島雜誌) and who was arrested and jailed for several years for her part in the Formosa Incident, or Kaohsiung Incident as it is known internationally, visited an exhibition of photos and archives at the former headquarters of the magazine on Thursday.
Looking back over the past 30 years, Chen said she had mixed feelings about the incident and the years that followed, since it was the first time she had stepped into the building that housed the magazine.
Formosa Magazine was created in the summer of 1979 by a group of people calling for an end to martial law and demanding democratic elections and the lifting of a ban on unauthorized newspapers and political parties.
The incident was sparked when magazine staff and opposition politicians held a rally to mark World Human Rights Day in Kaohsiung under tight police surveillance.
Lamenting the fleeting 30 years, Chen said she was grateful toward the land that nourished the aspirations for democracy and freedom, toward the people who came to their protection and defense when they were on trial, and toward the families of those jailed, for their understanding and support.
Some of the Formosa comrades, like late Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) chairman Huang Hsin-chieh (黃信介), have died and some have taken different paths, Chen said, adding that she honors the decisions of those who declined to take part in the commemorative activities.
Former DPP chairman Shih Ming-teh (施明德), for instance, refused to attend, while former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁), who as a young lawyer represented some of those put on trial by the KMT following the incident, is in detention, conducting an appeal against his life sentence for graft and corruption.
A magnitude 5.7 earthquake struck off Taitung County at 1:09pm today, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The hypocenter was 53km northeast of Taitung County Hall at a depth of 12.5km, CWA data showed. The intensity of the quake, which gauges the actual effect of a seismic event, measured 4 in Taitung County and Hualien County on Taiwan's seven-tier intensity scale, the data showed. The quake had an intensity of 3 in Nantou County, Chiayi County, Yunlin County, Kaohsiung and Tainan, the data showed. There were no immediate reports of damage following the quake.
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