Social networking sites were yesterday inundated with several high-profile celebrities’ indignant comments over the government’s overnight forcible eviction of students occupying the Executive Yuan, which led to violent clashes and bloodshed and to the labeling of President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) and Premier Jiang Yi-huah (江宜樺) as “dictators.”
Hours after hundreds of students climbed over the barriers at the main entrances of the Executive Yuan compound and occupied the nation’s highest administrative body on Sunday night, Jiang ordered the National Police Agency to empty the building by yesterday morning.
Riot police launched five waves of eviction attempts between 1 am and 5am yesterday, resorting to brutal force and even water cannon. About 110 people were injured during the process.
“Ma and Jiang have responded to students’ occupation of the legislature with ... foul indifference. They pretend they are listening to what people have to say and respond politely, but they keep going their own way anyway... This is indifferent dictatorship,” Taiwanese filmmaker Yang Ya-che (楊雅?) wrote on Facebook yesterday.
“They have no problem talking with China, but when it comes to protesters, they would rather have police beat them down with batons than sit down with them... It has become clear what they will go down in history for: their autocracy,” Yang said.
Famed Taiwanese director Lin Cheng-sheng (林正盛) also took to Facebook to express his anger, saying: “While the bloodthirsty government’s order to beat up young students has deeply saddened me, it has also taught me to stand up against this bloodsucker with a stronger and softer willpower.”
Theater director Ko I-chen (柯一正) praised the courage shown by students who launched a sit-in inside the Legislative Yuan yesterday despite the government’s forcible eviction of protesters.
“Our nation’s leader has become too despicable for people to tolerate. Lin Fei-fan (林飛帆) said they [students protesting inside the legislature] will never retreat!” Ko wrote on Facebook.
Lin is one of the protest leaders.
Taiwanese author and director Giddens Ko (柯景騰), also known as Jiu Ba Dao (九把刀), criticized the government’s use of violence against unarmed students.
“Before what happened last night, I used to believe that we could tolerate different opinions... Perhaps we will never be able to agree on anything in a civil society, but I have only one clear and simple stance now, that all of us should stand together against government-led violence,” Giddens Ko said.
Giddens Ko said the students’ occupation of the Executive Yuan was not a disgrace to democracy, adding that the real shame was that people who were capable of changing the nation’s destiny refused to come forward at a time of national crisis.
Taiwanese director Chen Yu-hsun (陳玉勳) dismissed some netizens’ characterization of the attempted occupation of the Executive Yuan as a “foolhardy operation,” saying that would be tantamount to “blaming victims for being raped.”
“I never knew how autocratic regimes were created when I was little, but I do now,” Chen said.
Indie singer-songwriter Deserts Chang (張懸) said what was happening in Taiwan today was inevitable for any nation whose governmental systems and operations required a fundamental overhaul.
“Even though there are major repercussions, even though we can only painfully and slowly change the government’s ‘ugly face,’ this is the price people who call this island home are willing to pay,” Chang said.
A number of celebrities including Chang, Chen, Giddens Ko, filmmaker Umin Boya (馬志翔) and actress Gin Oy (歐陽靖) also changed their Facebook profile pictures to black yesterday to mourn for the wounded students and the nation’s blemished democracy.
Four factors led to the declaration of a typhoon day and the cancelation of classes yesterday, Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) said. Work and classes were canceled across Taiwan yesterday as Typhoon Krathon was forecast to make landfall in the southern part of the country. However, northern Taiwan had only heavy winds during the day and rain in the evening, leading some to criticize the cancelation. Speaking at a Taipei City Council meeting yesterday, Chiang said the decision was made due to the possibility of landslides and other problems in mountainous areas, the need to avoid a potentially dangerous commute for those
There are 77 incidents of Taiwanese travelers going missing in China between January last year and last month, the Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) said. More than 40 remain unreachable, SEF Secretary-General Luo Wen-jia (羅文嘉) said on Friday. Most of the reachable people in the more than 30 other incidents were allegedly involved in fraud, while some had disappeared for personal reasons, Luo said. One of these people is Kuo Yu-hsuan (郭宇軒), a 22-year-old Taiwanese man from Kaohsiung who went missing while visiting China in August. China’s Taiwan Affairs Office last month said in a news statement that he was under investigation
PRO-CHINA SLOGANS: Two DPP members criticized police officers’ lack of action at the scene, saying that law enforcement authorities should investigate the incident Chinese tourists allegedly interrupted a protest in Taipei on Tuesday held by Hong Kongers, knocked down several flags and shouted: “Taiwan and Hong Kong belong to China.” Hong Kong democracy activists were holding a demonstration as Tuesday was China’s National Day. A video posted online by civic group Hong Kong Outlanders shows a couple, who are allegedly Chinese, during the demonstration. “Today is China’s National Day, and I won’t allow the displaying of these flags,” the male yells in the video before pushing some demonstrators and knocking down a few flagpoles. Radio Free Asia reported that some of the demonstrators
An aviation jacket patch showing a Formosan black bear punching Winnie the Pooh has become popular overseas, including at an aviation festival held by the Japan Air Self-Defense Force at the Ashiya Airbase yesterday. The patch was designed last year by Taiwanese designer Hsu Fu-yu (徐福佑), who said that it was inspired by Taiwan’s countermeasures against frequent Chinese military aircraft incursions. The badge shows a Formosan black bear holding a Republic of China flag as it punches Winnie the Pooh — a reference to Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) — who is dressed in red and is holding a honey pot with
RSS