Nearly 7,000 people jogged through the streets of Taipei in an anti-nuclear road running event yesterday morning, followed by nearly 2,000 people forming the words “No nuke now” on Ketagalan Boulevard in front of the Presidential Office Building.
The “Run Away From Nuclear” running event organized by the Anti-nuclear Alliance of Fathers, the Taiwan Environmental Protection Union and the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), set off from Ketagalan Boulevard after a siren mimicking a nuclear emergency warning siren sounded at 7am.
Ten staff members dressed in scary costumes — representing radiation spreading after a nuclear accident — also set out on rollerblades about 15 minutes after the runners, following them during the 7km road run.
Photo: CNA
Many runners said the “radiation monsters” chasing them were “really scary,” and the limited number of “life-saving cards” — symbolizing iodine tablets, radiation suits and other survivals tools — dispersed along the route were depleted in a short time.
Anti-Nuclear Alliance of Fathers executive director Kobe Chih (池國平) said the situation reflected the possible scenario in the event of a real nuclear accident.
After nearly 40 minutes, the first runner to reach the finish was National United University freshman Tsai Ming-chi (蔡明志).
Photo: Lin Cheng-kung, Taipei Times
He said that although he is in a track and field team and had no trouble escaping the “radiation monsters” during the event, he wondered whether people could escape a real nuclear disaster.
The event also attracted DPP Chairman Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌), former premier Yu Shyi-kun (游錫堃), DPP lawmakers and lawyer Wellington Koo (顧立雄) — an aspirant in the DPP primary for Taipei mayoral, as well as Olympic bronze medalist Chi Cheng (紀政) and entertainer Cheng Chia-chen (鄭家純) — also known as “Chicken Cutlet Girl” (雞排妹).
Su said that hopefully a nuclear-free homeland can be created in which “not only can we run without fear, but so can our children.”
Responding to questions about his meeting on Friday with President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) over the fate of the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant in New Taipei City’s Gongliao District (貢寮), Su said he was not aware that Ma had only invited him for a debate and not to find a solution.
“If Ma wants to make a change, I am willing to meet him again,” Su said.
“Hopefully it would actually be from the perspective of resolving a national crisis, social justice, solving the 30-year-old problem of the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant and saving former DPP chairman Lin I-hsiung (林義雄),” he added.
Lin began a hunger strike against nuclear power on Tuesday.
Chi said she always told other people about the beauty of Taiwan when she joined speed-walking events around the world, but if nuclear accidents like the Chernobyl disaster or the Fukushima Dai-ichi disaster occur in Taiwan, people will not come anymore.
“We need to defend our homeland and love our homeland,” she said.
“For those who support nuclear power, who dares to take nuclear waste home?” Cheng said, adding that continuing the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant construction project will require a lot of money, but those who profit from it should think whether life is more important.
After most of the runners had finished, about 2,000 people participated in an event to form the words: “No nuke now” by holding up yellow paper signs that read “2014 terminate the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant,” urging the government to abolish the construction project.
The anti-nuclear movement continued into the night on Ketagalan Boulevard, starting with a sit-in protest and evening event organized by the National Nuclear Abolition Action Platform.
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