More than 100 rights activists yesterday marched 17km from Losheng (Happy Life) Sanatorium (樂生療養院) to Taipei City Hall in protest against the latest evictions of residents by the Taipei City Department of Rapid Transit Systems (DORTS) and raise concerns about recent landslides caused by ongoing construction of an MRT maintenance depot.
Holding signs and walking behind large banners reading “Move the depot to save Losheng,” the protesters left Losheng Sanatorium in Sinjhuang District (新莊), New Taipei City, at 2pm.
“Most people in our society are only concerned with economic development and efficiency and would criticize anyone who stands in their way,” participant Lee Yu-ju (李雨柔) said before the march. “Instead of using vehicles, we will walk to Taipei City Hall, hoping to remind the people that, while we all want to move forward, we should slow down to look after the disadvantaged.”
Photo: Chen Wei-tsung, Taipei Times
While most Losheng residents took part in protests over past decades, “they are now in their 80s and are physically incapable of walking such a long distance, so we will march for them today,” she said.
Completed in the 1930s, the sanatorium was home to thousands of people with Hansen’s disease, also known as leprosy, who were kept there by force, first by the Japanese colonial government and then the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) regime, as the disease was thought to be highly contagious and incurable.
More than a decade ago, the government said that the sanatorium would be razed to make way for an MRT maintenance depot, triggering an opposition campaign that has compelled the government to agree to preserve a portion of the site.
However, as preservationists have long said, the construction has led to several landslides, causing several construction suspensions.
Recently, landslides have recurred, damaging some of the remaining buildings and leading the DORTS to ask the remaining residents to evacuate.
Losheng residents thanked the marchers and expressed concern.
“On one hand, I am grateful that so many of you are so concerned about the sanatorium and our safety, but on the other, I am worried about the long distance you have to walk and also what the police might do to you tonight,” Losheng resident Chou Fu-tzu (周富子) said.
Chou was worried about what could happen overnight because the demonstrators planned to stay overnight after arriving at Taipei City Hall at 9pm.
“I am thankful for all these old friends and new faces who are here for us,” Losheng resident Chen Tsai-tien (陳再添) said. “If not for you, I could not be sitting here, because this place would have been flattened long ago.”
National Taiwan University student and march participant Hung Chung-yen (洪崇彥) said that marchers were prepared in case police decide to disperse them.
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