Ke Tsi-hai (柯賜海), dubbed the “King of Protests” for his frequent placard protests in the late 1990s and early 2000s, was found dead in a van in Yangmingshan National Park in Taipei on Monday, local police said.
He was 66.
Ke’s death was later confirmed by the Shilin District Prosecutors’ Office, which determined, following a forensic examination, that no external forces were involved in Ke’s passing.
Photo: Hua Meng-ching, Taipei Times
Prosecutors said Ke’s body had been sent back to members of his family, who accepted the conclusion that Ke died of natural causes.
Taipei police said they received a call from a woman who identified herself as Ke’s sister at 8:30am on Monday, saying her brother had died in his own van parked on a road in Yangmingshan’s Qianshan Park.
The woman said her brother had lived and slept in the van for a long time, and that he had bumped his head when he fell on Sunday, but was unwilling to see a doctor.
The next day she found him lying in the van without vital signs when she brought him food, police said, citing the sister’s statement.
When police officers arrived at the scene, they found Ke had already been dead for many hours, judging from the stiffness of his body, police said.
His sister said that her brother had suffered from chronic diseases, they said.
Ke was an activist who was known for showing up at the scene of news events with protest placards and appearing behind people speaking on camera in TV news reports.
However, te later faded from public view after he was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease and was involved in disputes with family members over inheritances, local media reports said.
Ke ran for Taipei mayor in 2006, receiving 3,687 votes, or 0.29 percent of the total, enough to beat pundit Clara Chou (周玉蔻), who represented the Taiwan Solidarity Union and got 3,372 votes, or 0.26 percent of the total.
Ke also ran for Hualien County commissioner in 2014, finishing third among six candidates with 9.49 percent of the vote.
His protests mostly focused on fighting for the rights of stray dogs when former presidents Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) and then Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) served as Taipei mayor.
One of his classic protest slogans was “Ma Ying-jeou, give me my cow back,” a phrase he often shouted in front of TV cameras, after officials confiscated his cattle, local news reports said.
His last public protest was early this year, when he appealed a Constitutional Court interpretation that said forced labor in correctional institutions was unconstitutional.
Ke objected because the ruling did not specify that people in such facilities had the right to reject working, but the court refused in February to hear his appeal.
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