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.
A magnitude 4.9 earthquake struck off Tainan at 11:47am today, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The hypocenter was 32.3km northeast of Tainan City Hall at a depth of 7.3km, CWA data showed. The intensity of the quake, which gauges the actual effect of a seismic event, measured 4 in Tainan and Chiayi County on Taiwan's seven-tier intensity scale, the data showed. The quake had an intensity of 3 in Chiayi City and County, and Yunlin County, while it was measured as 2 in Kaohsiung, Nantou County, Changhua County, Taitung County and offshore Penghu County, the data showed. There were no immediate reports of
Weather conditions across Taiwan are expected to remain stable today, but cloudy to rainy skies are expected from tomorrow onward due to increasing moisture in the atmosphere, according to the Central Weather Administration (CWA). Daytime highs today are expected to hit 25-27°C in western Taiwan and 22-24°C in the eastern counties of Yilan, Hualien, and Taitung, data on the CWA website indicated. After sunset, temperatures could drop to 16-17°C in most parts of Taiwan. For tomorrow, precipitation is likely in northern Taiwan as a cloud system moves in from China. Daytime temperatures are expected to hover around 25°C, the CWA said. Starting Monday, areas
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) is maintaining close ties with Beijing, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said yesterday, hours after a new round of Chinese military drills in the Taiwan Strait began. Political parties in a democracy have a responsibility to be loyal to the nation and defend its sovereignty, DPP spokesman Justin Wu (吳崢) told a news conference in Taipei. His comments came hours after Beijing announced via Chinese state media that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s Eastern Theater Command was holding large-scale drills simulating a multi-pronged attack on Taiwan. Contrary to the KMT’s claims that it is staunchly anti-communist, KMT Deputy
RESPONSE: The government would investigate incidents of Taiwanese entertainers in China promoting CCP propaganda online in contravention of the law, the source said Taiwanese entertainers living in China who are found to have contravened cross-strait regulations or collaborated with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) could be subject to fines, a source said on Sunday. Several Taiwanese entertainers have posted on the social media platform Sina Weibo saying that Taiwan “must be returned” to China, and sharing news articles from Chinese state media. In response, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) has asked the Ministry of Culture to investigate whether the entertainers had contravened any laws, and asked for them to be questioned upon their return to Taiwan, an official familiar with the matter said. To curb repeated