Residents of Taipei’s Huaguang (華光) community gathered in front of the Ministry of Justice in the capital yesterday, bringing along rubble to protest against the ministry’s forced demolition of their homes.
The controversy over the land on which the community stands began in 2006 after a project to transform it into one of the four economic and digital technology centers was unveiled.
In 2009, the area was rezoned as a commercial rather than residential area.
Photo: CNA
Last year, the Executive Yuan approved plans to remodel the area into a “second Roppongi district” — a district in Tokyo famed for its nightclubs — and officials began measuring all the buildings in the designated area in November.
Although the Executive Yuan initially intended to demolish the entire area before Dec. 31, then-Executive Yuan secretary-general Steven Chen (陳士魁) decided that the project overlapped with urban renewal projects and turned over the remodeling of the area to the Construction and Planning Administration.
Located close to the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall and spanning 11 hectares of land, the community — where the demolition of buildings was scheduled to begin yesterday — has been home to soldiers and their famlilies who were unable to obtain living quarters after the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) relocated to Taiwan in 1949.
Following the first wave of demolitions last month, during which seven buildings were bulldozed, the ministry demolished two more buildings on Hangzhou Road yesterday.
About 30 residents and their supporters placed pieces of a demolished wall and other rubble in front of the Ministry of Justice in protest.
Police warnings that they would remove the rubble sparked outrage among the residents, who said the government was now trying to take even the rubble after it had already robbed them of their homes.
Wearing white shirts printed with blood stains, the residents lay on the ground in protest, accusing the ministry of violating their human rights and attempting to manipulate the judicial system to force them into a tight corner.
The residents left the site after calling for the demolition to be halted until the government comes up with an acceptable relocation plan, punctuating their last call with a rush at police guarding the ministry.
Meanwhile, ministry official Yang Ho-chin (楊合進) said that the government was executing its legal duty to demolish the properties before turning the land over to the Ministry of Finance.
Legally, the justice ministry cannot delay the demolition process, Yang said, adding that the Taipei City Government had agreed to provide 57 public housing units to help with the relocation of Huaguang community residents.
The Ministry of Justice planned to meet with community residents to discuss the issue yesterday, but the residents said that as they had not received any formal notification from the government about the meeting they refused to attend.
STAY AWAY: An official said people should avoid disturbing snakes, as most do not actively attack humans, but would react defensively if threatened Taitung County authorities yesterday urged the public to stay vigilant and avoid disturbing snakes in the wild, following five reported snakebite cases in the county so far this year. Taitung County Fire Department secretary Lin Chien-cheng (林建誠) said two of the cases were in Donghe Township (東河) and involved the Taiwan habus, one person was bit by a Chinese pit viper near the South Link Railway and the remaining two were caused by unidentified snakes. He advised residents near fields to be cautious of snakes hiding in shady indoor areas, especially when entering or leaving their homes at night. In case of a
ENERGY RESILIENCE: Although Alaska is open for investments, Taiwan is sourcing its gas from the Middle East, and the sea routes carry risks, Ho Cheng-hui said US government officials’ high-profile reception of a Taiwanese representative at the Alaska Sustainable Energy Conference indicated the emergence of an Indo-Pacific energy resilience alliance, an academic said. Presidential Office Secretary-General Pan Men-an (潘孟安) attended the conference in Alaska on Thursday last week at the invitation of the US government. Pan visited oil and gas facilities with senior US officials, including US Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum, US Secretary of Energy Chris Wright, Alaska Governor Mike Dunleavy and US Senator Daniel Sullivan. Pan attending the conference on behalf of President William Lai (賴清德) shows a significant elevation in diplomatic representation,
Credit departments of farmers’ and fishers’ associations blocked a total of more than NT$180 million (US$6.01 million) from being lost to scams last year, National Police Agency (NPA) data showed. The Agricultural Finance Agency (AFA) said last week that staff of farmers’ and fishers’ associations’ credit departments are required to implement fraud prevention measures when they serve clients at the counter. They would ask clients about personal financial management activities whenever they suspect there might be a fraud situation, and would immediately report the incident to local authorities, which would send police officers to the site to help, it said. NPA data showed
A magnitude 6.4 earthquake struck off the coast of Hualien County in eastern Taiwan at 7pm yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The epicenter of the temblor was at sea, about 69.9km south of Hualien County Hall, at a depth of 30.9km, it said. There were no immediate reports of damage resulting from the quake. The earthquake’s intensity, which gauges the actual effect of a temblor, was highest in Taitung County’s Changbin Township (長濱), where it measured 5 on Taiwan’s seven-tier intensity scale. The quake also measured an intensity of 4 in Hualien, Nantou, Chiayi, Yunlin, Changhua and Miaoli counties, as well as
RSS