A Tainan-based independence activist who has held weekly protests outside the Tainan Railway Station for more than eight years is now the only person remaining of a group that once numbered 40.
Wang Hsi-ho (王溪河), 72, demonstrates every Saturday and Sunday outside the station with a number of flags bearing messages in English and Chinese, calling for independence and urging the government to take the necessary steps.
“We the people are the masters of the state. The government is the people’s public servant,” one flag reads.
Photo: Tsai Wen-chu, Taipei Times
Wang previously worked in the garment industry, he said, adding that about 20 years ago, he began to get involved in social movements.
In the past few years, he was involved in a petition opposing the so-called “birdcage“ referendum in 2003, in a movement opposing the planned relocation of a section of a railway in Tainan, the Sunflower movement and the campaign to recall former Kaohsiung mayor Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜).
About eight years ago, he joined a pro-independence campaign started by Alliance of Referendum for Taiwan convener Tsay Ting-kuei (蔡丁貴) and began promoting it in Tainan, Wang said.
Wang has since led pro-independence protests in front of the railway station, with the group of protesters at times being so large that they had to divide into two separate groups of roughly 20 people each, he said.
However, as many of those who participated were older people, they slowly began withdrawing from the movement until about three years ago, when he was the only one left, he said.
Moving several large flags by scooter is hard work, so he has built foldable flag poles, he said.
“Taiwan’s future should be decided by Taiwanese,” Wang said. “However, I am just a lowly individual, all I can do is wave flags to express myself.”
Wang has a ventricular assist device installed in his heart, but as long as he can walk and move about, he would continue his pro-independence campaign, he said.
He sometimes feels lonely while protesting, but he would persist for his ideals, Wang said.
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