Several groups staged protests outside the Public Television Service (PTS) building in Taipei’s Neihu District (內湖) yesterday, where a political debate between the three presidential candidates was being held.
The police, concerned by the number of protesters, deployed about 300 officers to help keep the groups under control.
A coalition of workers’ groups slammed Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) candidate Eric Chu (朱立倫), Democratic Progressive Party candidate Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) and People First Party candidate James Soong (宋楚瑜) over what it described as their failure to propose substantive policies to protect labor rights.
The coalition said the aim of the protest was to highlight the three parties’ unwillingness to put forward concrete policies that would benefit workers.
The parties have focused their attention on cross-strait relations and have been unwilling to talk with labor groups to address labor issues, the coalition said, adding that the three parties should realize that the government has remained passive on workers’ rights and the problem of labor exploitation.
If the three presidential candidates continue to pay lip service, but fail to put forward substantive labor policies, they might not be able to garner workers’ support in next month’s election, the coalition said.
Meanwhile, a group of students staged a protest against the revised curriculum, saying that all three presidential candidates have only made vague remarks on the issue.
The students called on the candidates to promise to stop the curriculum changes that were allegedly made in breach of procedural justice.
A group from the National Alliance of Parents’ Organizations called on the candidates to abolish the high-school admission system and restore the Basic Competence Test.
Meanwhile, members of the China Unification Promotion Party called on the presidential candidates to voice their opinions on cross-strait policies.
There were also dozens of landowners from Taipei City’s Wufenpu (五分埔) garment district, demanding that the KMT produce a solution regarding eight families that were unlisted when the city government relocated residents in 1955 to enlarge roads. The landowners expressed hope that the situation could be resolved by the Executive Yuan within the next month.
The protesters dispersed peacefully after voicing their demands.
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