[Onthebarricades] TAIWAN: Free speecht and anti-China protests, Oct-Nov 2008

[global resistance roundup]

* Protesters attack Chinese envoy
* More protests planned
* Protest "a victory for the people" - cops stoned, firebombed
* Chinese cancel visits after protests
* Taxi drivers protest
* Self-immolation during protests
* Controversy over repression
* Ongoing protest sit-in over police abuse, free speech violations




http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2008/10/20/international/i211013D95.DTL&tsp=1

Taiwanese protesters attack Chinese envoy
By PETER ENAV, Associated Press Writer
Tuesday, October 21, 2008

(10-21) 21:58 PDT TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) --
Angry protesters in southern Taiwan assaulted an envoy from rival China 
on Tuesday, part of an escalating reaction by the pro-independence 
opposition to President Ma Ying-jeou's policy of greater engagement with 
Beijing.
The attack on Vice Chairman Zhang Mingqing of the Association for 
Relations Across the Taiwan Strait is a personal embarrassment to Ma, 
who has made closer economic and political ties with the communist 
mainland the centerpiece of his new administration.
The Harvard-educated Ma was elected in March after promising to turn the 
corner on the pro-independence policies of predecessor Chen Shui-bian.
In Tuesday's attack, about a dozen protesters surrounded Zhang at a 
Confucian temple in the southern city of Tainan, then knocked him to the 
ground while shouting anti-communist and pro-independence slogans.
"Taiwan does not belong to China," protesters shouted.
Zhang was helped to his feet by an escort and rushed to a waiting 
vehicle. He cut his visit short and back to China on Wednesday.
The assault attracted a strong response from China, although Beijing was 
careful not to discount Ma's efforts to push for closer mainland ties.
"We express strong indignation and fiercely condemn such barbaric acts 
of violence, and demand severe punishment for the troublemakers," 
China's Taiwan Affairs Office said in a statement posted on its Web site.
Yet it also said the incident "cannot block the peaceful development of 
cross-strait relations."
Zhang is a well-recognized figure in Taiwan. He was formerly the 
spokesman for Beijing on Taiwan affairs, often depicted on Taiwanese 
television as making strident comments that many Taiwanese regarded as 
offensive.
The attack on Zhang comes several weeks before a more significant visit 
by Chen Yun-lin, Zhang's boss and the point man in pushing for unity 
across the 100-mile-wide Taiwan Strait.
That visit is supposed to provide tangible evidence of reduced tensions 
between Taipei and Beijing and give Ma's program of greater engagement 
with the mainland a big boost.
The program — unveiled during Taiwan's lengthy election campaign — 
features regular direct flights across the strait, increased Chinese 
tourism, and a more liberalized regime for bilateral investments.
Ma has also advocated a formal peace treaty with Beijing — though 
without going into specifics.
China and Taiwan split amid civil war in 1949. China continues to claim 
the island as part of its territory and has threatened to invade if it 
ever moves toward formal independence.
Promises of better relations with China helped propel Ma's Nationalists 
to an overwhelming victory in legislative elections in January, and the 
presidential poll two months later.
A key factor was popular displeasure over Chen's China brinksmanship — 
Beijing regularly excoriated him for insisting that the island and the 
mainland are two separate countries — and a growing Taiwanese belief 
that closer links with Beijing would provide a much needed spark for the 
island's laggard economy.
But since then, the bloom on the China rose has faded, as Ma's promises 
of a brighter economic day have largely fizzled, and Taiwanese have 
watched in dismay as health inspectors have stripped supermarket shelves 
of a succession of tainted Chinese food products.
Tuesday's assault on Zhang reflected a profound lack of agreement among 
Taiwanese on how relations with China should proceed, said political 
scientist Hsu Yung-ming of Taipei's Soochow University.
"Ma should have first sought consensus within Taiwan on cross-strait 
policies instead of zealously pushing forward his policy of close 
exchanges with (the mainland)," he said. "Now there can be more conflict 
when other Chinese envoys visit."
On Saturday, Chen's Democratic Progressive Party is scheduled to hold a 
mass rally in Taipei to support its claims that that Ma's China policies 
are undermining Taiwan's sovereignty and putting the island's de facto 
independence and its democratic political system at risk.
The DPP is particularly miffed at Ma's readiness to compromise with 
China on symbols that Chen put at the forefront of his own 
pro-independence administration — particularly his insistence that the 
island should be referred to officially as "Taiwan" rather than the 
Nationalists'"Republic of China" formulation.
The rally is seen as a litmus test of whether Ma can ride out the 
current wave of DPP-led China discontent, or whether his ambitious 
attempts to dampen one of the post-World War II world's most enduring 
political conflicts will come up short.
A large crowd — say in excess of 150,000 — would provide ballast to the 
DPP's claims that Ma is out of touch with Taiwanese opinion, while a 
smaller turnout would suggest that notwithstanding Tuesday's incident in 
Tainan, the new president is well on course.






http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=6117394

Taiwan Opposition Plans Fresh Anti-China Protests
October 27, 2008
TAIPEI (Reuters) - Taiwan opposition leaders on Monday planned a fresh 
wave of street protests to coincide with a visit next week by China's 
top negotiator as 7,000 police officers prepared to stand guard.
China claims sovereignty over self-ruled Taiwan and has threatened to 
use force, if necessary, to bring the island under its rule. But the two 
sides have established new trade and transit links since Taiwan 
President Ma Ying-jeou took office in May.
Chen Yunlin, Beijing's top negotiator on Taiwan affairs, is expected to 
lead a 60-person delegation to the island for his first time from 
November 3 to 7 to discuss new direct flights and food safety, Taiwan 
officials said.
Last week, demonstrators in the southern Taiwan city of Tainan pushed to 
the ground a visiting Chinese official who had traveled there for an 
academic conference, outraging Beijing.
Demonstrators organised by the opposition Democratic Progressive Party, 
which wants Taiwan to seek formal independence from China and opposes 
Ma's friendly approach toward Beijing, are planning street action to 
protest against Chen's visit.
"They can't sign any kind of political agreement," party spokesman Cheng 
Wen-tsang said. "If they sign any economic agreements, they must not add 
any political conditions."
About 7,000 police officers would be ready to handle any upsets, Taiwan 
National Police Agency Director-General Wang Cho-chiun told reporters on 
Monday.
"Of course they're to protect Chen Yunlin and to ensure public safety," 
police agency news official Wang Chi-chung said.
About half a million demonstrators flooded Taipei on Saturday, calling 
on Ma to resign and China to back off.
Beijing, for its part, sent Taiwan a rare letter of apology for any 
losses due to tainted milk powder from China, Taiwan's negotiating 
agency said on Monday. Taiwan has banned Chinese dairy products and 
pulled packaged goods from supermarket shelves since the milk powder 
scandal emerged in September.
China has claimed Taiwan since 1949, when Mao Zedong's Communists won 
the Chinese civil war and Chiang Kai-shek's KMT fled to the island.
(Reporting by Ralph Jennings; editing by Roger Crabb)






http://www.chinapost.com.tw/taiwan/national/national-news/2008/11/09/182355/Protest-a.htm

Sunday, November 9, 2008 9:52 am TWN, The China Post new staff
Protest a victory for Taiwan people: Tsai
TAIPEI, Taiwan -- Democratic Progressive Party Chairwoman Tsai Ing-wen 
yesterday described the anti-China protests last week as a successful 
display of the people’s will to defend Taiwan’s sovereignty, but she 
played down concerns over the violent actions.
Tsai said Thursday’s “Operation Siege” that saw 100,000 people 
protesting the visit by China’s top envoy has delivered a message to 
Beijing that cross-strait ties cannot be dictated by President Ma Ying 
jeou or the ruling Kuomintang alone.
“They must have the support of Taiwan people,” said Tsai.
Prior to his meeting with the China envoy, Ma was forced by the “power 
of the people” to reiterate that Taiwan’s future must be determined by 
the entire nation.
Such a reiteration thwarted China’s plot to turn the Ma-Chen meet into 
an occasion to “dwarf” Taiwan’s sovereignty, the DPP chief claimed.
The protest actions also sent a message to the international media that 
Taiwan’s people did not welcome Chen Yunlin, head of the Association for 
Relations Across the Taiwan Strait (ARATS).
The anti-Chen actions prevented the KMT’s welcome for the China envoy 
from overwhelming the coverage by the international media, she said.
But Tsai said she may met with Chen if there is a chance.
She said she would relay to Chen Taiwan’s determination to remain a 
sovereign state if she met him.
“I am not opposed to meeting Chen,” she said. “I will tell him what we 
tried to tell President Ma.”
Operation Siege, which was meant to have opposition supporters 
demonstrate outside the Taipei Guest House during the Ma-Chen meet, ran 
wild late in the night when hundreds of them rioted outside the Taipei 
Grand Hotel, where the ARATS chief was staying.
The rioters pelted police with stones and petrol bombs before they were 
dispersed early Friday morning.
But Tsai dismissed the labeling of the DPP as a “violent party,” saying 
anyone attempting to portray the DPP so is trying blur the focus.
She said if the Ma administration apologizes for its violations of the 
human rights, and formally demands China to recognize Taiwan’s 
sovereignty, then the people will not have to take to the streets.
She blamed the clashes on the police’s over-protection for Chen, and 
accused police of using excessive force and of violating human rights 
during the dispersal.
“The Ma administration went from ‘protecting Chen Yunlin’s safety’ to 
‘preventing Chen Yunlin from seeing the protests’ — that’s the main 
reason for the clashes,” Tsai argued.
She demanded Ma retract his description of the ties between Taiwan and 
China as that between two “districts.”
But KMT Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng said the clashes set bad 
examples for Taiwan’s democracy.
Although the protest actions allowed the Chinese guests to understand 
more about the island, Taiwan should also make adjustments to show more 
hospitality and rationality towards Chinese and foreign visitors.
He said he hopes last week’s incidents were temporary, and that 
cross-strait ties will become more harmonious, paving the way to 
eventual peace.






http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/11/10/asia/taiwan.php

Chinese officials cancel Taiwan visits following protests

The Associated Press
Published: November 10, 2008

TAIPEI: At least two groups of Chinese officials have canceled plans to 
visit Taiwan because of violent protests against a Chinese envoy when he 
visited the island last week, a Taiwanese official said Monday.
The Chinese called off the trips after protesters clashed with the 
police during the bridge-building trip by the envoy, Chen Yunlin, 
according to Chen Chu-jung, spokeswoman for the governing Kuomintang 
party. She declined to say which delegations had canceled.
"They may not have acted on government orders, but were concerned about 
their own safety," she said.
The Taiwanese media have said that Deputy Mayor Huang Qifan of Chongqing 
canceled a planned visit to Taipei this week, though it was not clear 
whether this was one of the trips the spokeswoman was referring to.
While in Taiwan last week, the Chinese envoy signed several deals to 
expand transport links with the island.
Taiwan's pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party, which fears that 
closer economic ties with the mainland could pave the way for political 
union, organized a series of demonstrations during the trip.
At one point, protesters threw stones and other objects at the police. 
They also surrounded a hotel where the Chinese envoy was having dinner, 
preventing him from leaving until after midnight.
China claims Taiwan as part of its territory and has said that any moves 
to formalize the island's de facto independence would be met with war.








http://www.chinapost.com.tw/taiwan/china-taiwan-relations/2008/11/10/182454/China-shows.htm

November 10, 2008 9:39 am TWN, The China Post news staff
China shows displeasure about violent protest
TAIPEI, Taiwan -- Beijing is showing its displeasure with how its top 
negotiator on Taiwan affairs was treated in Taipei, according to the 
United Evening News.
Chen Yunlin, chairman of the Association for Relations across the Taiwan 
Strait, and his 60-member delegation faced a violent protest organized 
by the Democratic Progressive Party.
There were bloody clashes between protesters and police while Chen and 
his ARATS delegates were here from Monday to Friday last week. They were 
bottled up at a downtown Taipei hotel for eight hours on Thursday, while 
DPP supporters fought it out with security guards.
The displeasure was manifested by the State Council in Beijing, the 
United Evening News reported yesterday. All Cabinet ministers, the 
afternoon paper said, were told to call of their planned visits to 
Taiwan. A deputy mayor of Chongqing had to cancel his visit tomorrow, it 
added.
Kuomintang leaders believe the People’s Republic is “retaliating” 
against the extremely unfriendly reception the opposition party had 
given Chen, his delegates and one of his vice chairman.
Zhang Mingqing, the vice chairman, was mobbed at the Confucian temple in 
Tainan on October 21, the day after he had delivered a lecture at a 
seminar on media exchanges between Taiwan and China in his capacity as 
dean of the journalism school at Xiamen University.“We understand the 
other side of the Strait wants to suspend the exchange of personal 
visits by ranking government officials,” said Lee Chien-yung, spokesman 
for the Kuomintang.
But Lee added the ruling party hopes the suspension “is just temporary.”
“It will return to normal shortly,” Lee predicted.
A Kuomintang heavyweight, Chang Hsien-yao, said he knows a number of top 
provincial officials have canceled their visits to Taiwan.
“It isn’t quite clear why they called off the visits all of a sudden,” 
said the lawmaker, who used to be a top aide to James Soong, chairman of 
the People First Party.
At any rate, Chang went on, the cancellation “has something to do with 
the ill treatment given Zhang Mingqing and Chen Yunlin.”
The Mainland Affairs Council, the Cabinet agency supposed to lay down 
China policy, denied the press report. Chang Teh-hsun, its spokesman, 
said he has no information on any cancellation.
“I haven’t heard of it,” Chang said. “I should have known, if there were 
any cancellation,” he added.
The MAC’s Chinese counterpart is the Taiwan Office of the State Council 
in Beijing, which Chen Yunlin had headed before his current ARATS 
assignment.
Taiwan Office sources were also quoted in an official Central News 
Agency dispatch from Beijing as denying the cancellation of any 
impending visits to Taiwan by ranking Chinese government 
officials.Denials perhaps were made perfunctorily.Neither side of the 
Strait wants their newly started rapprochement aborted.
The fact is that Beijing is warning the opposition party against 
repeating the violent protest in the streets, sources close to the SEF said.
“What Beijing wants,” one SEF source said, “is for the DPP to offer an 
open apology.”
That certainly won’t be coming.
“If they don’t want to come, let it be,” DPP spokesman Cheng Wen-tsan 
said of the reported suspension of visit exchanges.
People took to the streets to protest the Chen visit simply because 
China and the Kuomintang government misjudged Taiwan’s “main stream 
public opinion,” said Cheng.
“If China wants to send any more top level government official to 
Taiwan,” Cheng went on, “he has to know what stand our people have 
vis-a-vis the People’s Republic.”
A great majority of the people on Taiwan, Cheng is convinced, are for 
independence or at least “one country on either side of the Strait,” 
which is an anathema to Beijing.
China threatens to invade Taiwan, if Taipei moves towards de jure 
independence.
“Unless Chinese officials would face this harsh reality (of the people’s 
opposition to unification), their visits to Taiwan are absolutely 
meaningless,” Cheng pointed out.
A DPP lawmaker even urged President Ma Ying-jeou to commit harakiri or 
jump into the Tamsui River to end his life for bringing shame to Taiwan 
as a sovereign state by meeting Chen Yunlin.
Ma met Chen in Taipei as president on Thursday. The latter did not 
address the former as “President Ma.”
Chang Hua-kuan, the DPP legislator, regarded Chen’s refusal to use the 
proper form of address as downgrading Taiwan’s dignity as a sovereign 
state on an equal footing with the People’s Republic.







http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/afp_asiapacific/view/388246/1/.html

China envoy ends historic Taiwan visit amid violent protests
Posted: 07 November 2008 1057 hrs

TAIPEI - China's top envoy Chen Yunlin on Friday wrapped up a historic 
visit to Taiwan paving the way for closer co-operation between the 
traditional rivals but overshadowed by massive and sometimes violent 
protests.

Chen made history on Thursday when he met Taiwan's President Ma 
Ying-jeou and was the most senior Chinese official from Beijing to visit 
the island since it split from China at the end of a civil war in 1949.

But angry protests followed his five-day visit at every turn.

More than 60 police were injured in clashes in Taipei overnight, the 
National Police Agency said, while local media reports said more than 20 
protestors and reporters were also hurt.

Some 2,200 riot police backed by water cannon were dispatched to 
Taipei's Grand Hotel where Chen was staying, while around 1,000 people 
staged rowdy and at times violent protests, police said.

Some threw eggs, rocks, bottled water and petrol bombs at police in an 
attempt to get past barbed wire barricades.

At a press conference shortly before his departure, Chen, his eyes red, 
appeared close to tears as he thanked Taiwanese security officials.

"I would like to express our thanks to the police," he told reporters.

"They made many sacrifices and shed blood during the tense protests. 
Words cannot describe our appreciation," Chen said, bowing briefly.

On Thursday, thousands of demonstrators, mostly supporters of the 
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), rallied in central Taipei to protest 
Chen's brief meeting with president Ma.

Organisers put turnout at more than 100,000 while police estimated the 
size of the crowd at 10,000.

The cacophony could be heard for kilometres (miles) around the central 
government plaza as they moved off, on foot and in vans equipped with 
loudspeakers, towards the Grand Hotel.

The protesters are opposed to deals that Taipei and Beijing insist that 
it will bring enormous economic benefit to both sides as they are 
fearful that money and jobs will flood out of Taiwan to take advantage 
of cheap labour and resources in China. - AFP/vm






http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?from=rss_Asia&set_id=1&click_id=126&art_id=nw20081107103743211C863581

Police injured in anti-China protest

November 07 2008 at 04:31PM

Taipei - More than 60 police were injured in Taiwan overnight during 
massive protests against a visit by top Chinese envoy Chen Yunlin, 
police said on Friday.

About 2 200 riot police backed by water cannon were dispatched late on 
Thursday to Taipei's Grand Hotel where Chen was staying, as some 1 000 
people staged rowdy and at times violent protests, police said.

Some protesters threw eggs, rocks, bottled water and petrol bombs at the 
police in an attempt to get past barbed wire barricades.

Around 64 police were injured during the protests in various parts of 
Taipei which lasted until early Friday before police used water cannon 
to dispel a crowd of some 100 protestors.
Local media said more than 20 protestors and reporters were also hurt in 
the clashes.

Several people were arrested, but police have yet to say how many.

On Thursday, tens of thousands of demonstrators, mostly supporters of 
the Democratic Progressive Party, rallied in central Taipei to protest 
Chen's meeting with the island's President Ma Ying-jeou.

Organisers put the number of protestors at more than 100 000 while 
police estimated the crowd at 10 000. - Sapa-AFP







http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/story/0,22049,24616072-5001028,00.html?from=public_rss

64 police hurt in anti-China protests in Taiwan
Article from: Agence France-Presse
 From correspondents in Taipei
November 07, 2008 02:34pm
MORE than 60 police were injured in Taiwan during massive protests 
against a visit by top Chinese envoy Chen Yunlin, police said today.
Some 2200 riot police backed by water cannon were dispatched late 
yesterday to Taipei's Grand Hotel where Mr Chen was staying, as some 
1000 people staged rowdy and at times violent protests, police said.
Some protesters threw eggs, rocks, bottled water and petrol bombs at the 
police in an attempt to get past barbed wire barricades.
Around 64 police were injured during the protests in various parts of 
Taipei which lasted until early today before police used water cannon to 
dispel a crowd of some 100 protesters.
Local media said more than 20 protesters and reporters were also hurt in 
the clashes.
Several people were arrested, but police have yet to say how many.
Yesterday, tens of thousands of demonstrators, mostly supporters of the 
Democratic Progressive Party, rallied in central Taipei to protest Mr 
Chen's meeting with the island's President Ma Ying-jeou.
Organisers put the number of protesters at more than 100,000 while 
police estimated the crowd at 10,000.
Mr Chen, who will leave Taiwan today, described his historic trip as a 
success but noted the rivals had a long road to travel toward better 
relations. During his protest-marred visit, Mr Chen signed a landmark 
trade deal.
He thanked the thousands of police who were deployed in the capital, 
Taipei, to protect him.
In a possible dig at the protesters, Mr Chen assured the Taiwanese that 
if they visit China, they will see "harmony everywhere".
"We have successfully accomplished this memorable voyage and will return 
to Beijing," he said, before leaving for the airport.
"We have completed the mission that people across the strait have long 
desired and have handed over to us."
But he acknowledged that major differences still existed between the two 
sides.
"We believe the future road is long but we will shoulder it and face up 
to this and that difficulty," he said.
"We will do our best to contribute to the welfare of the people across 
the strait."






http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2008/11/02/2003427549

Protesters heckle Ma ahead of meeting
HEAD OF STATE: During an interview with a radio station, the president 
vowed to protect Taiwan’s sovereignty, joking that he hoped he would be 
called ‘president’
By Jenny W. Hsu And Mo Yan-chih
STAFF REPORTERS
Sunday, Nov 02, 2008, Page 3

Liang Chen-hsiang, a Changhua County councilor of the opposition 
Democratic Progressive Party, shouts slogans yesterday as police remove 
him from the Longshan Temple in Lukang Township during President Ma 
Ying-jeou’s visit. His shirt bears the words “Taiwan is an independent 
sovereign state.”
PHOTO: WANG PAI-LIEN, TAIPEI TIMES
Protesters in Changhua County heckled President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) 
yesterday ahead of tomorrow’s arrival of Association for Relations 
Across the Taiwan Strait (ARATS) Chairman Chen Yunlin (陳雲林) for a 
second round of cross-strait negotiations.
Dozens of pan-green protesters accused Ma of “selling out” Taiwan and 
shouted “Ma Ying-jeou, step down!” as he arrived for a dedication 
ceremony for a century-old Buddhist temple in Lukang Township (鹿港).

Holding up banners that read “Taiwan is a sovereign, independent 
country” and “Traitor to Taiwan,” the protesters chanted against what 
they called Ma’s China-leaning policies and said that “Regional Head Ma” 
must step down immediately before he destroys Taiwan’s hard-won democracy.

A minor scuffle broke out when protesters, led by a Democratic 
Progressive Party (DPP) councilor, tried to confront Ma inside the 
temple. Police apprehended several protesters and dragged them out of 
the temple.
“You [would] bet he calls me [President Ma]? I hope you win.”
— President Ma Ying-jeou
“Ma’s personal police won’t let me go worship in the temple,” one 
protester angrily yelled, saying he lost his religious freedom when the 
police prohibited him and his group from entering the temple ground.

Ma did not acknowledge the protesters and made no comment.

Later, during an interview with a local radio station in Taichung, Ma 
vowed to protect Taiwan’s sovereignty as the nation’s leader, while 
joking about placing a bet with the radio show host over whether Chen 
would address him as “President Ma” when they met this week.

“You [would] bet he calls me [President Ma]? I hope you win,” the 
president told the radio show host.

Ma said later that he would implement his “three noes” policy in 
handling relations with China.

The “three noes” referred to no pursuit of unification, no Taiwanese 
independence and no use of force.

Meanwhile, former vice president Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) yesterday urged Ma 
to skip the meeting with Chen in order to prevent the country’s 
sovereignty from being belittled.

“President Ma should not meet Chen if he sees himself as the leader of 
the ROC. His rank is higher than Chen’s, and the people in Taiwan should 
protest if he insists on meeting Chen,” Lu told a press conference 
yesterday after returning from a trip to Mexico.

“ARATS is not an official organization, and President Ma should not act 
like a daughter-in-law who is going to meet the Chinese in-laws,” she 
said, adding that Premier Liu Chao-shiuan (劉兆玄) should also refuse to 
meet Chen.

Lu further condemned the government for deploying over 7,000 police to 
maintain public order for Chen’s upcoming visit of Chen, while calling 
on DPP members and supporters to treat the Chinese official as a guest 
and demonstrate a democratic spirit to the Chinese delegates as long as 
he does not humiliate Taiwan’s sovereignty during his visit.

“We should give Chen Yunlin a chance to see that Taiwan is a democratic 
sovereignty and that we have our own culture,” she said.

DPP Chairwoman Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) said that Chen must refer to Ma as 
“president” if they meet, or Ma must cancel the meeting if he refuses to 
do so.

ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY RICH CHANG







http://tvnz.co.nz/view/page/2263875

China official meets Taiwan president
7:47PM Thursday November 06, 2008
Source: Reuters
Taiwan's president met briefly with a Chinese official in one of the 
highest-level contacts between the two sides since the Chinese civil 
war, while protesters clashed with riot police outside.

President Ma Ying-jeou met China's top Taiwan affairs negotiator, Chen 
Yunlin, who has already signed agreements opening up trade and transport 
between the two sides that in past years have edged to the brink of war.

"What cannot be denied is that between the two sides some differences 
and challenges still exist, especially on the issues of Taiwan's 
security and international space," Ma said at the five-minute meeting.

According to Taipei, China has more than 1,000 missiles aimed at the 
island just across the Taiwan Strait, one the world's most dangerous 
flashpoints.

Beijing, with about 170 diplomatic allies compared to Taiwan's 23, also 
bars the island from international organisations such as the United 
Nations, which requires statehood as a precondition for membership.

Communist China, a permanent member of the UN Security Council, has 
claimed sovereignty over self-ruled Taiwan since 1949 and has vowed to 
bring the island of 23 million people under its rule, by force if 
necessary.

Ma's predecessor advocated formal independence from China, outraging 
Beijing and freezing high-level contacts.

Ma told Chen he wanted to see more high-level exchanges and said the two 
sides should not mutually deny each other's existence.

He shook hands with Chen and gave him a vase in exchange for a scroll 
with a horse painting. Ma, in Chinese, means horse.

Chen's reply to Ma was inaudible to the audience, but local media had 
speculated on whether Chen would address Ma as president.
As China claims Taiwan as its own, it does not recognise Taiwan's leader 
as a head of state.

"The meeting is highly symbolic, mainly to show a parity between the two 
sides," said Chao Chien-min, a political science professor at National 
Cheng Chi University in Taipei.
"The protests can't have any effect on it."

Ma is under pressure at home to be politically tough on China while 
improving the island's sagging economy by getting a piece of the other 
side's booming markets.

Negotiators from Taiwan and China signed a series of deals on Tuesday 
expanding daily direct flights and agreeing new air routes, direct cargo 
shipments and direct postal services.

But protesters have been camping out in the streets since Chen arrived 
on Monday, accusing Ma of selling out.

Late on Wednesday, about 1,000 people, many of whom want Taiwan to 
declare formal independence from China, mobbed a Taipei hotel where Chen 
had attended a banquet.
They clashed with hundreds of police after a seven-hour standoff.

Ma gave a televised speech earlier on Thursday to announce he was moving 
up the time of his meeting with Chen to avoid further trouble.

On Wednesday, he defended the deals with China and condemned the protests.

"You can't say that love for Taiwan will become the selling out of 
Taiwan," he said.

Chen also attended a ceremony to mark an upcoming exchange of two giant 
pandas, a gift symbolic of China, for an indigenous goat and deer from 
Taiwan.






http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2008/11/04/2003427726

CROSS-STRAIT TALKS: Taxi drivers stage protests against Ma-Chen summit
IN DEFENSE OF SOVEREIGNTY: The DPP promised to stage daily evening 
protests outside the Legislative Yuan until China's top cross-strait 
negotiator leaves on Friday
By Loa Iok-Sin
STAFF REPORTER
Tuesday, Nov 04, 2008, Page 3

Taxi drivers and Taiwanese independence join a “Safeguard Taiwan” 
campaign organized by the Taiwan Society in Taipei yesterday to protest 
against Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits Chairman 
Chen Yunlin’s visit to Taiwan.
PHOTO: WANG MIN-WEI, TAIPEI TIMES
Amid applauses and cheers, about 100 taxis, carrying flags with the 
slogan “Defend our sovereignty, defend Taiwan” set out to stage surprise 
protests at random locations after a rally outside the Legislative Yuan 
yesterday.
Before the official departure at 3pm, about 100 taxis had already lined 
up on Jinan Road outside the legislature.

The drivers then began decorating their cars with small flags with the 
slogan “Defend our sovereignty, defend Taiwan” and yellow headbands with 
“Taiwan is my country” written in English and Chinese.

Some brought their own placards to protest against President Ma 
Ying-jeou's (馬英九) pro-China policies and the visit of China's 
Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait Chairman Chen Yunlin 
(陳雲林).

“Since Ma took over the presidency [in May], he has been repressing [the 
pro-Taiwan camp] through political and judicial means — and now he's 
even trying to compromise Taiwan's sovereignty,” Wu Shuh-min (吳樹民), 
chairman of the Taiwan Society, which organized the event, told the crowd.

“We must act now before it's too late,” he said, and was answered with 
loud applauses and cheers.

With supporters lined up on both sides of the road cheering, the taxis 
set out after blowing their horns five times.

“They will be out there like viruses making random protests at random 
locations,” said Zhang Ming-you (張銘祐), a Taiwan Society office director.

Earlier yesterday, the Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) also staged a 
demonstration in front of the legislature.

“The Chinese Nationalist Party [KMT] did a 180-degree turn from their 
anti-communist stance in the past to their pro-communist stance,” TSU 
chairman Huang Kun-huei (黃昆輝) told a crowd of supporters. “And this 
change really disgusts me.”

At the venue, the TSU displayed tainted or toxic products imported from 
China.

“As Chen Yunlin arrives this morning, I'd like to call on him to 
apologize to Taiwanese for the tainted milk products and propose real 
compensation,” the TSU chairman said.

After his brief remarks, Huang invited supporters to hit a dummy of Chen 
labeled “Executioners of China-based Taiwanese businesspeople,” “Smiling 
to hide his intention to annex Taiwan” and “President Ma's emperor.”

Huang said that as face-to-face confrontations were not allowed, the TSU 
would seek “flexible means” to voice its discontent.

Later last night, thousands of people — all wearing yellow headbands 
that read “Taiwan is my country” and some holding flags with an 
illustration of the map of Taiwan — rallied outside the legislature.

The rally, organized by the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), was held 
outside the legislature rather than near the Grand Hotel where Chen was 
staying because all of the party's applications for assembly and parade 
permits around the hotel had been turned down.

A rally will be held every evening until Thursday. Chen leaves on Friday 
morning.






http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2008/11/19/2003428994

Self-immolating protester’s family pleads for help
By Chen Hsuan-yu
STAFF REPORTER
Wednesday, Nov 19, 2008, Page 4
Family members of Liu Po-yan (劉柏煙), 80, who set himself on fire in a 
protest at Liberty Square in Taipei last Tuesday, said they could not 
afford the expensive treatment he needs and appealed to the public for 
donations.
Liu sustained second and third-degree burns over more than 80 percent of 
his body. He was in stable condition at National Taiwan University 
Hospital yesterday.

Liu’s protest was aimed at what he called the government’s affront to 
national dignity during the visit by China’s Association for Relations 
Across the Taiwan Strait Chairman Chen Yunlin (陳雲林).

Born and raised in Nantou County, Liu had been a member of the Chinese 
Nationalist Party (KMT) for 58 years.

His son Liu Feng-long (劉豐隆) said that while his father had sustained 
serious injuries in his self-immolation protest, he could not receive 
adequate doses of anesthesia because he suffered from low blood 
pressure, leaving him in excruciating pain.

Since Liu Po-yan was taken to the hospital, he has twice undergone 
surgery, costing a total of NT$110,000, Liu Feng-long said.

Although Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislators and private 
individuals have donated NT$100,000 to help pay for Liu Po-yan’s 
treatment, Liu Feng-long said the family needed to reach out to the 
public for donations to help pay for further treatment.

Donations can be made by postal service wire transfer, and should 
include a note that the donation is for Liu Po-yan. Money can be paid 
into the account of the Taiwan Association for Human Rights (社團法人台 
灣人權促進會), account number 19066111.






http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2008/11/14/2003428562

Self-immolating protester remains in critical condition
By Meggie Lu

Friday, Nov 14, 2008, Page 4
“I saw many police officers beating people.”
— Liu Po-yan
An 80-year-old man, Liu Po-yan (劉柏煙), who sustained second and third 
degree burns over more than 80 percent of his body on Tuesday after 
setting himself on fire in a protest at Liberty Square was still in 
critical condition in National Taiwan University Hospital’s intensive 
care unit yesterday, hospital officials said.
“Liu has gone through a series of debridement surgeries, one of which 
occurred [yesterday],” the hospital told the Taipei Times.

The hospital said that there was no word on when Liu’s life would be out 
of danger, adding that skin transplant surgery would be scheduled soon.

Liu on Tuesday staged the demonstration by pouring gasoline and burning 
himself in protest at the government’s affront to national dignity 
during the visit last week by Association for Relations Across the 
Taiwan Strait Chairman Chen Yunlin (陳雲林).

In a suicide note, Liu claimed that he had been a member of the Chinese 
Nationalist Party (KMT) for some 30 years and expressed dismay toward 
the government’s handling of Chen’s visit.

“I saw pedestrians walking on the street holding the national flag and 
getting arrested by the police, who even broke the flag pole. I saw many 
police officers beating people without consequences. I hear that sixteen 
ordinary people have been arrested and will be indicted. If so, are the 
thousands of police who hit people going to be given citations of 
merit?” the note said.

“When Chen [Yunlin] met the president, he pointed at the president and 
said, ‘you, you, you.’ I see that the president smiled and was very 
happy … If China sends an even higher ranking official, would the 
president kneel to receive him?” the note said.







http://www.taiwanheadlines.gov.tw/ct.asp?xItem=140198&CtNode=39

President visits police officers injured amid protests
11/07/2008 (CNA)
Taipei, Nov. 7 (CNA) President Ma Ying-jeou visited several police 
officers Friday to show his concern for the injuries they sustained the 
day before amid clashes with demonstrators protesting the just-concluded 
visit to Taiwan by a senior Chinese official.

Accompanied by National Police Agency Director-General Wang Cho-chiun, 
Ma arrived at Shin Kong Wu Ho Su Memorial Hospital in Taipei's suburban 
Shihlin district in the afternoon, where injured police officers are 
recuperating.

Among the injured was Liao Jui-lung, a squadron chief at the Datong 
branch of the Taipei Municipal Police Department, who sustained a 
serious injury to his nose after being attacked by pro-independence 
protesters.

Ma expressed his anger and regret over violence that erupted during a 
street protest organized by the opposition Democratic Progressive Party 
(DPP) Thursday when Ma met briefly with Chen Yunlin, China's top 
negotiator with Taiwan in his capacity as president of the Association 
for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits (ARATS).

"Thank you for your brave efforts to maintain law and order. Otherwise, 
Taipei would have become a battlefield where mobs prevailed," Ma said.

He urged Wang and city police chiefs to step up reviews of security 
video footage as soon as possible to bring to justice those who 
instigated violence and conflicts during the DPP-organized 
demonstration, code-named "siege."

Chen, the most senior People's Republic of China official ever to visit 
Taiwan, concluded his historic visit Friday.

During his five-day visit, Chen was dogged by pro-independence 
protesters. Police manned 17,000 shifts to protect his safety and the 
smooth proceeding of his visit, according to police sources.

In addition to police officers, many protesters and journalists were 
also injured in melees that happened over the past few days.

Meanwhile, in an effort to allay the opposition camp's misgivings about 
the possible impact of increasingly warming-up cross-strait engagements, 
Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) Chairman Chiang Pin-kung said Friday 
that what the SEF and the ARATS have been doing is to create an 
environment favorable for peaceful development on both sides.

"All of the four agreements signed during Chen's visit will contribute 
to cross-strait trade and civilian exchanges for mutual benefits," 
Chiang noted. (By Sofia Wu)







http://www.chinapost.com.tw/taiwan/local/taipei/2008/11/08/182205/18-arrested.htm

November 8, 2008 9:52 am TWN, The China Post news staff
18 arrested for ‘disturbing order’ in siege protest
TAIPEI, Taiwan -- Eighteen people have been rounded up on charges of 
disturbing order in connection with Democratic Progressive Party 
chairwoman Tsai Ing-wen’s Operation Siege, Taipei police said yesterday.
Tsai ordered a 1,000-strong crowd to besiege the Taipei Guest House, 
where Chen Yunlin, chairman of the Association for Relations across the 
Taiwan Strait, met briefly with President Ma Ying-jeou Thursday morning.
Among the suspects were college students, factory and unemployed 
laborers, a Taipei police spokesman told the press.
“We are trying to find out whether they have any connection with the 
mob,” the spokesman said.
After the clashes between the crowd and riot police, Tsai said she did 
not order a siege of the Grand Hotel in Taipei, where Chen and his ARATS 
delegates stayed during their four-day stay. “There might be those with 
mob connections among those protesters milling at Yuanshan,” she added.
A serious clash took place after the crowd broke through a police cordon 
at the northern end of Zhongshan Bridge at Yuanshan.
But there were a score of “young men” among the crowd gathered at the 
Jingfu Gate or the East Gate, which is the eastern end of Ketagalan 
Avenue leading to the Office of the President, the police spokesman said.
They couldn’t be identified. Taipei police are looking for them.
All the suspects, the police spokesman said, will be arraigned before 
Taipei district prosecutors today.
“They were all taken in their clash with police at Yuanshan,” the 
spokesman added. They marched peacefully on the Grand Hotel until 11 p.m.
Then, the police spokesman said, some in the crowd threw feces at the 
guards at the northern end of the bridge across the Keelung River.
“Molotov cocktails were also thrown,” a lieutenant in command of a riot 
police contingent said. “It looked like a street war,” he lamented.
Fire engines were called for to disperse the crowd at 1 a.m. yesterday.







http://www.allheadlinenews.com/articles/7012945565

Taiwan Police, Protesters In Violent Clashes During China Envoy Visit
ShareThis
November 7, 2008 6:08 a.m. EST
AHN Staff
Taipei, Taiwan (AHN) - Sixty-four policemen and 20 protesters and 
reporters were hurt in Taipei, Taiwan from Thursday to Friday when 
demonstrations against a visiting China official turned violent.
The police said Friday 1,000 protesters clashed with 2,200 police late 
Thursday at the Grand Hotel, where Chinese negotiator Chen Yunlin was 
staying. The protesters threw eggs, rocks, bottled water and petrol 
bombs at the police in their attempt to get past barbed wire barricades 
and the police fired water cannons to disperse the mob.
Protesters clashed again with police at the Taipei Guest House Friday 
morning as they tried to prevent a meeting between President Ma 
Ying-jeou and Chen, who arrived Monday to sign several cross-strait 
agreements with Taiwan. Protesters broke through barricades in the 
afternoon leading to clashes that hurt 14 protesters, 11 police 
officers, three reporters and two lawmakers.
The protesters opposed to the union of China and Taiwan accused the 
government of selling off the Taiwanese people. Taiwan and China split 
in 1949 and Beijing regard the island as its province.







http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2008/11/06/2003427872

CROSS-STRAIT TALKS: DPP encourages protesters to join a ‘siege of Boai’
BALANCE LOST: The NPA denied rumors that it had ordered the confiscation 
of ROC flags or that buses carrying demonstrators from the south be stopped
By Rich Chang And Loa Iok-sin
STAFF REPORTERS
Thursday, Nov 06, 2008, Page 3


Yellow ribbons reading ‘‘Taiwan is my country’’ in English and Chinese 
are hung outside the legislature yesterday in support of the series of 
protests against the visit of Association for Relations Across the 
Taiwan Strait Chairman Chen Yunlin.
PHOTO: LIN CHENG-KUNG, TAIPEI TIMES
Calling on people to join the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) rally 
to “besiege” Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait Chairman 
Chen Yunlin (陳雲林) when he meets President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) 
today, DPP Chairwoman Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) said yesterday she would 
take full responsibility for the rally.
Tsai said the DPP would do all it can to hold a peaceful demonstration, 
but that it cannot guarantee that protesters would not be radicalized if 
police denied them their right to free expression.

The DPP-organized “Yellow Ribbon Siege” will start at 1pm, with 
protesters walking to the Taipei Guest House on Ketagalan Boulevard and 
besiege the Boai District (博愛), chanting slogans and using horns, 
bells, whistles and other objects to generate noise, DPP spokesman Cheng 
Wen-tsang (鄭文燦) said.

Cheng said that the party expects 100,000 to take part in the rally.

“We will let Ma and Chen hear the voice of the people,” he said.
“Balance has been lost on this visit [by Chen]. Taiwan is paying too 
high a political price, in terms of sovereignty, democracy, freedom of 
speech and all other forms of expression commonly enjoyed in a free and 
democratic society.”
— Tsai Ing-wen, DPP chairwoman
After initially denying the DPP permission to hold the rally, the Taipei 
City Police Department yesterday afternoon announced it had given the 
DPP permission.

Saying that the DPP is not opposed to cross-Taiwan Strait exchanges or 
dialogue to help maintain stability and peace, Tsai said the party is 
simply worried that Taiwan is paying too high a price.

“Balance has been lost on this visit [by Chen]. Taiwan is paying too 
high a political price in terms of sovereignty, democracy, freedom of 
speech and all other forms of expression commonly enjoyed in a free and 
democratic society,” Tsai said.

“I am depressed because we are going through a dark period in Taiwan’s 
history,” she said. “People’s rights, personal liberties, freedom of 
speech and judicial rights were seriously violated in the past couple of 
days. Facing an authoritarian government, the party had no choice but to 
take to the streets, just as it fought for Taiwan’s democracy before.”

At a separate setting yesterday, National Police Agency director-general 
Wang Cho-chiun (王卓鈞) denied allegations that government officials had 
ordered the confiscation of Republic of China flags, and rebutted rumors 
that local police departments in central and southern Taiwan were to 
stop any bus heading to Taipei carrying demonstrators on their way to 
the rally.

“Our goal has always been to protect all legal activities, block illegal 
ones and sanction violent acts,” Wang said, acknowledging that there are 
had been problems in how police had handled demonstrators.

He said, however, that police had acted within the law.

Wang said all police officers on duty would follow three main 
guidelines: act according to the law, remain neutral and strictly 
reinforce the law.

“So far, all police action has respected the legal framework,” he said. 
“Although I have to say that some officers do need to improve their 
skills and attitude.”

Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) Chairman Huang Kun-huei (黃昆輝) said 
yesterday he would also lead TSU supporters at the rally.

The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus urged the DPP to call off its 
plan to “besiege” the Taipei Guest House during Ma’s meeting with Chen.

Calling the plan “illegal,” KMT caucus deputy secretary-general Yang 
Chiung-ying (楊瓊瓔) yesterday urged Tsai to “stop throwing Taiwan into 
chaos.”

ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY FLORA WANG







http://www.taiwanheadlines.gov.tw/ct.asp?xItem=139706&CtNode=39

DPP launches 3-day sit-in to protest Chinese negotiator's visit
11/04/2008 (CNA)
Taipei, Nov.3 (CNA) The opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) 
launched a three-day sit-in at Jinan Road near the Legislative Yuan in 
downtown Taipei Monday to voice opposition to closer ties with China as 
its top negotiator arrived in Taiwan earlier that day.

DPP members and supporters began to gather at the venue hours before the 
activity formally kicked off at 7 p.m. They tied yellow ribbons reading 
"Taiwan Is My Country" on trees that line the street at the site. Some 
of them tied the ribbons on their heads or necks.

Some people carried the Republic of China national flags to satirize the 
Kuomintang government's reluctance to fly the national flags at venues 
where China's top point man on Taiwan, Chen Yunlin, will stay or stop 
over during his five-day visit.

Previously, ROC flags were seldom seen at rallies organized by the 
pro-Taiwan independence DPP.

DPP politicians, academics and popular TV talk show hosts took turn to 
deliver speeches highlighting Taiwan's sovereign status and protesting 
China's diplomatic suppression and deployment of ballistic missiles 
targeting Taiwan as well as its shipment of substandard products and 
foodstuffs to Taiwan.

Some young anti-China academics led the demonstrators in shouting 
anti-communist slogans and singing anti-communist patriotic songs 
popular during Taiwan's martial law era.

The round-the-clock sit-in, dubbed "vigil for Taiwan, heckling China," 
will last until Wednesday.

Meanwhile, DPP Legislator Kuan Bi-ling accused the police of using "near 
martial law tactics" to disperse protesters who intended to heckle Chen 
Yunlin, president of the Beijing-based Association for Relations Across 
the Taiwan Straits (ARATS), when he appeared.

A number of pro-independence activists, including several DPP Taipei 
City councilors were forcefully taken away by police earlier Monday as 
they intended to break police lines to approach Chen when he was leaving 
a hotel to pay a courtesy call on Cecilia Yen Koo, the widow of Straits 
Exchange Foundation founding Chairman Koo Chen-fu, who had been Taiwan's 
top negotiator with China before his death in 2005.

Kuan said the police's physical removal of the protesters could mislead 
visiting Chinese delegates into believing that Taiwan's people could be 
suppressed and that Taiwan was not a mature democracy, and she urged 
them to take a "softer" approach to enforcing the law.

Excessive security meausres and police deployment would only reflect the 
intensity of opposition of local people against Chen's visit, Kuan argued.

Chen arrived in Taipei around noon Monday at the end of a 60-member 
delegation. During his visit, he will sign four pacts with SEF Chairman 
Chiang Pin-kung to further facilitate cross-strait exchanges and trade. 
(By Sofia Wu)

http://globalvoicesonline.org/2008/11/06/taiwan-defending-rights/

Taiwan: Defending Rights to Protest

Thursday, November 6th, 2008 @ 05:50 UTC
by I-fan Lin
Following David's article on “The Phantom of Police State” coming back 
with Chen Yun-lin (陳雲林)'s visit to Taiwan on 3 of Nov, I have 
collected some visual materials showing the conflict between the 
protesters and police with brief translation.
Since Nov 3rd, many protesters wearing pro-Taiwan T-shirt or banners or 
waving the ROC national flag have been harassed by the police, and some 
of them were wounded. To the extent that people playing Taiwanese songs 
(Sunrise records, 上揚唱片) were disrupted with force, and a cup of 
coffee became all too dangerous.

Manuscript translation:
Unlawful object: drinks?
When do citizens lost our rights to walk around with drinks on our hands?
Is it lawful for the police to push citizens toward the wall?
Is a cup of drinks a dangerous item now?
A group of motorcyclists waving the ROC national flag and Tibet flag 
were stopped by the police without any explanation.
When seeing the pro-Taiwan banner (“Taiwan is Taiwan”), the police (?) 
ran to the spot and took the banner away.
The protesters asked “This is our hotel room, and this banner is our 
property. Who gives you the right to come in and take our banners?”
Protesters said “We are Taiwanese. Why can't we express our opinions?”
Protesters asked the police “What's the problem with our national flag?”
After the police took and damaged these flags, the reporters asked the 
police “Isn't it wrong to damage our national flag?”
Defending rights to protest
Facing these incidents, Carolina thought Taiwan President Ma Ying-Jeou 
should take the responsibility.
在滿街的旗幟被拔走，民眾持旗被沒收的錯愕中，馬英九今天還唬爛說他絕對沒有 
下令撤旗。
When the (national) flags and banners on the streets were taken away and 
people holding these flags were shocked, Ma Ying-Jeou lied that he 
absolutely did not give orders to remove the (national) flags.
OJ is also very disappointed with the current government.
當我們看到我們的政府是這樣對待自己的人民，我們真的只能很心寒地覺悟了…那 
些好不容易爭取來的民主法制、人權價值，都被這個自我作賤的政府給徹底丟棄了。
Seeing our government treat our people in this way, we bitterly realize 
that…the democracy and human rights are thrown away by this shameful 
government.
However, citizens prepare to fight back, non-violently. Francais asked 
citizens to collect evidence if they see these incidents.
今年12月的國際人權日，亞裔人權團體將會在巴黎集體發聲，我們原本只是想要再 
次聲討中國對台灣的打壓，沒想到，自己的政府被打出獨裁專政原形，台灣正式列 
入人權受危害的國家。因此，我們想請大家集思廣益，提供馬政府上任後種種侵害 
人權的事件，我們會整理後在國際人權日的活動上，一起向國際媒體揭露。很遺 
憾，眼睜睜看台灣的沈淪，這卻是我們唯一可以做的；也請大家各自努力。
Asian human rights groups will gather and voice on the Human Right Day 
this December. We thought we would denounce the repression of Taiwan 
from China. However, our own government shows their dictatorship, and 
Taiwan is formally listed as a country whose human rights are endangered 
now. We appeal for gathering information about incidents that endanger 
human rights after President Ma inaugurated. We will put them together 
and reveal them to the international media. I am sorry that when we see 
the degradation of Taiwan, this is the only thing we can do. We should 
work hard now.







http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2008/11/11/worldupdates/2008-11-11T154352Z_01_NOOTR_RTRMDNC_0_-364431-1&sec=Worldupdates

Tuesday November 11, 2008
Taiwan man sets himself on fire at protest site
TAIPEI (Reuters) - A 79-year-old Taiwan man set himself on fire on 
Tuesday near a week-old anti-government protest but the reason for his 
action and his condition were not immediately known, the capital's fire 
department said.
The man, Liu Bo-yan of central Taiwan, poured fuel on himself and then 
set himself alight. Firefighters found him alive and sent him to a 
hospital for treatment, a department official said.
Fire investigators are examining the incident near the Chiang Kai-shek 
Memorial Plaza in downtown Taipei, where a group of students have been 
staging anti-government demonstrations for the last six days.
A United Evening News photograph showed him on the ground with flames 
rising a metre above his body, except for his lower legs, as a bystander 
poured water on him from a bottle.
A representative of the student group, which is protesting the 
government's ties with China and Taiwan's law on demonstrations, told 
the newspaper that the man came with a leaflet saying the ruling party 
had "ruined" him for 30 years.






http://www.taiwanheadlines.gov.tw/ct.asp?xItem=140618&CtNode=39

Aged man tries to immolate himself at scene Taiwan student protest
11/12/2008 (Taiwan News)
A 79-year-old man was fighting for his life on Tuesday after trying to 
immolate himself near the student protesters at Taipei's Liberty Square.
The man, surnamed Liu, was covered in an inflammable substance and set 
himself on fire, but bystanders and police rushed to douse the flames. 
Police later said the liquid might have been gasoline or diesel oil.
Liu was taken by ambulance to nearby National Taiwan University Hospital 
where he was listed in critical condition with burns over 80 percent of 
his body, doctors said.
He left behind a letter critical of the government, police said. In the 
letter, Liu said he joined the ruling Kuomintang in 1950, but expressed 
dissatisfaction at police action against people carrying the Republic of 
China flag during the visit of Chinese top negotiator Chen Yunlin last 
week.
Students said they would be vigilant and try to dissuade visitors from 
taking extreme action.
The students have been sitting under the gate of Liberty Square since 
Friday in a campaign to demand changes to the Parade and Assembly Law. 
They say protesters should not first have to apply to police for 
permission to hold a protest.
The students also want government leaders to apologize and top security 
officials to resign over what they allege was the brutal treatment of 
anti-Chinese protesters last week.






http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/archives/2008/11/11/2003428354

Community Compass: Opinions swirl after ARATS protests
By Jenny W. Hsu
STAFF REPORTER
Tuesday, Nov 11, 2008, Page 4
VIEW THIS PAGE
For days last week, images of furious protesters battling against the 
police filled the nation’s headlines. Police were caught in news footage 
beating people with wooden clubs and metal shields, while some 
protesters threw objects such as glass bottles and stones at the police.
The clashes led the government and the opposition party to point fingers 
at each other, each blaming the other for the chaotic display. The 
scenes also stirred up strong feelings from the expatriate community 
from all points of the spectrum.

David Reid, an Australian student studying at National Chengchi 
University who witnessed the protest on Wednesday, said that the 
violence that ensued last week gravely affected Taiwan’s democracy by 
“turning the clock back 20 years.”

“By banning the display of the Republic of China flag, the government 
sent a very clear signal that Taiwan’s sovereignty was made subordinate 
to the People’s Republic of China. I think that was the most dangerous 
thing the government did during the week and this led to the situation 
where people were very angry. There is no question that Taiwan is in a 
very dangerous position right now.”

Jacques Stroebel, a teacher from Canada, applauded Taiwanese police for 
dealing with the protesters in a “very strong but gentle manner.”

“I give my respect to the police. Back home, the police could seriously 
hurt you for throwing things at them,” he said.

Anti-China rhetoric and scathing criticism against the police and the 
administration of President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) have been posted on 
various Web sites and blogs managed by foreigners.

Tim Maddog wrote on his blog: “Martial law is being reintroduced to 
Taiwan, and the philistine police response to protesters as well as to 
people simply expressing their feelings is a clear indication of this 
situation.”

Some said the cops used excessive force on the people, but argued that 
protesters should also be blamed for the chaos. Others observed that the 
majority of the protests were not at all violent and blamed the press 
for sensationalizing the events. Some others speculated the emotionally 
charged protests were orchestrated by pan-green politicians for the sole 
purpose of boosting their own popularity and that of the party.

“Isn’t it so obvious? The rallies were full of politicians wearing vests 
with their names written on them. They are taking advantage of the chaos 
to have more face time. If the focus was to give the power to the 
people, commoners should also be allowed to speak their minds on the 
stage,” said a German professional who refused to go on the record 
because she feared offending her Democratic Progressive Party coworkers.

One blogger labeled as a “Fried Chicken Parts Vendor” wondered if the 
people were just “doing this for kicks?”

“There is no reason for all this shit ... I understand people are 
concerned, but is anyone out of [or inside] Taiwan going to take these 
people seriously? What’s on the news now is insane and it will be on TV 
in other parts of the world and it will make Taiwan look very bad in the 
eyes of the world.”






http://globalvoicesonline.org/2008/11/11/taiwan-at-the-protest-frontline/

Taiwan: At the Protest Frontline

Tuesday, November 11th, 2008 @ 05:24 UTC
by I-fan Lin
It seems that many people, especially if you are outside Taiwan, found 
the recent protest against Chen Yinlin in Taipei confusing. Bob pointed 
out that in China, some incidents in the protest were interpreted as 
democratic violence. Such impression is probably a result of the 
mainstream media report on the violent scene. You may want to ask what 
had happened during this long day, Nov 6th? Why did so many people 
decide to demonstrate in the street? How did the violence happen? Let's 
take a closer look at and listen to these protesters.
aswing explained why protest:
很多人問我，除了上街頭，難道沒有更「理性」的方法來反應民眾和在野黨的情緒 
嗎？我必須反問這些人，可以作在冷氣房表決，誰願意冒著被警察痛毆的風險上街 
頭？如果馬英九覺得自己勝了，就是人民對兩岸政策已經作了抉擇，他就可以為所 
欲為，那麼他有沒有把自己當作全民的總統呢？嘗言民主政治是多數決，但國民黨 
這半年來的粗暴做法，身為少數，並沒有任何被尊重的感覺。…當在野黨重新回到 
街頭，其實意味著民主正在倒退。
Many people asked me why don't we choose a more “rational” way to 
express our emotion and the opposition party's position than protesting 
on the street? I would ask these people: if we can vote in an 
air-conditioned room, who wants to protest on the street and take the 
risk of facing police violence? If Ma Ying-Jeou thinks he can do 
whatever he wants to do regarding Taiwan-China relationship because he 
won the presidential election, he fails to be a responsible president 
for all citizens? We know that democracy is majority-ruled. However, 
from what the Kuomintang have done in the past half year, I, as the 
minority, do not feel I am respected…When the opposition party needs to 
protest on the street again, we know that our democracy is degrading.

Photo courtesy of kajin.
The government's overreaction in “protecting” Chen Yunlin and the police 
action in harassing the protesters had agitated more people to join the 
protest on 11/6.
Bo-Yu's mother arrived early.
有幾位因為前一晚參加過晶華那一場,比較有經驗,會提醒我們不要把絲帶繫在身 
體,說警察會直接扯絲帶,我也幫身旁的老先生老太太重新把絲帶綁在帽子背包上.
Some protesters who had joined the protest yesterday at Grand Formosa 
Regent Taipei reminded me not to tie the yellow ribbon on my body, 
because the police would pull the ribbon. I helped the elders beside me 
to tie the ribbons on their hats or backpacks.

Photo courtesy of judie.
Protester harnyi was shocked when she arrived at the gathering location:
新聞中才能看到的恐怖畫面就這麼活生生的在眼前：數十位警察分別站在捷運出口 
兩邊，放眼望去都是拒馬，而陣陣的汽笛聲、喇叭聲、呼口號聲傳來，一股肅殺之 
氣瀰漫在空氣中。
The terrible scene shown on the television was right in front of me: 
dozens of policemen stood at the exit of the Mass Rapid Transit. There 
were barricades everywhere and sounds of airhorns, horns and slogans 
were echoing in the air, as if a bloody battle was about to happen.
obs noticed that the barricades didn't leave enough room for the 
protesters to move around.
從拒馬在中山南路的架設方式，就知道圍城行動控制不易。跑街頭運動那麼多年， 
沒看過這種ㄇ字型的陣仗，人群稍多就推倒了。
 From the setup of the barricades on Zhongshan N. Rd, we could imagine 
that the protest would not be easy to control. I have attended protests 
for several years, but I have never seen such “ㄇ” shape before. These 
barricades were easily to be pushed over when the number of the 
protesters increased.
Most of the protest was peaceful, harnyi reported:
這個頭綁黃絲帶的先生很可愛，沿路一直叫大家踩這面旗子，他說：踩一踩，把氣 
出一出就算了。對呀，誰說民進黨的支持都是暴民，我們用自己的方式來宣洩情 
緒，幽默，沒害人。
This person with the yellow ribbon on his head was cute. He asked us to 
step on this flag. He said, “step on it and expel your anger, and then 
let it go.” Well, who said the supporters of the Democratic Progressive 
Party are rioters? We have our way to release our anger, which is 
humorous and harmless.

Photo courtesy of judie.

Photo courtesy of judie.
She disagreed with what was reported on the mainstream media later about 
their protest.
景福門那邊的確有一點衝突，可是，那不過是佔整個遊行人數的幾萬分之一，回家 
後看了新聞，在攝影機選擇性的鏡頭下，”暴動”竟然成了整個圍城活動的唯一主 
軸，這就是我們誇張的媒體生態，唉……
There were some incidents at Jingfumen (景福門) . However, they only 
represented one of tens of thousands protesters. I came home and watched 
the television. Under the selective camera, “riot” became the only focus 
of today's protest. This is the ecology of our media. Sigh…
The Democratic Progressive Party claimed to end the protest at around 
6pm, but some protesters kept going to the Grand hotel, where Chen 
Yunlin stayed. dayinfu joined the protest there. She described:
幾個外國友人, 拿布條到現場, 鼓舞現場的士氣。 現場人來人往, 所以, 
18:30~~22:30之間, 人數似乎沒什麼增減…我猜約在6、700之數。
Several foreign friends brought ribbons to us and cheered us up. There 
were people going and people coming, so the number of the protesters did 
not change a lot from 18:30 to 22:30…I guess there were 600-700 
protesters there.
dayinfu left at 10:30pm, and she saw the incidents occur on the media 
after she came back home.
後來三台指揮車一一離去(約20:00左右, 我猜), 只剩群眾在原地繼續喊口號/汽笛 
發洩不滿。 約22:30, 我們覺得再待下去, 大概沒有什麼進一步的發展, 就先行離 
開回家。一到家才從新聞中得知警察暴動, 攻擊人民 。
Later the three protest trucks left (around 20:00, I guess), but some 
protesters stayed and continued to express anger with slogan and 
airhorns. At around 22:30, we felt that there would not be any new 
development and decided to go home. When I came home, I saw the news and 
learned that the police had launch attack at the people there.
a-gu described these following incidents and said both some protesters 
and the police were way over the line.
At one point in the afternoon the crowd suspected a man in a black shirt 
of being a gangster sent to make trouble or a police spy sent to collect 
information. They beat him up pretty bad and ripped his shirt off, 
presumably to see if he was wearing a wire…The second incident was the 
molotov cocktail thrown last night at the scuffle near the Grand Hotel. 
Could have very seriously injured a number of police officers and scared 
them for life. Maybe even kill somebody. Not cool.
On the other hand, the police were not the picture of calm law and order 
either. Some of the riot police were really unnecessarily violent with 
their billy clubs, really ripping on guys who were running away and who 
the police had no intention of actually arresting or anything.
I also had a friend who stayed until the end of the protest at the Grand 
hotel last night…I asked if the police were being reasonable or crossing 
the line, and he thinks the latter.
Yuglory left just before this incident.
我也很不諒解DPP把人丟了就走了，那天看了現場，就知道晚一點會出事，所以我 
10點多就拉了朋友走了，他們也都不清楚事情的危險性
後來跟一些朋友討論，大家對DPP當然不滿，對這些政客也是無言，但我們也認 
為，以那天的情況，那天就算要把群眾帶走也帶不走的，民怨真的很深，人民的憤 
怒是很清楚的.
I disapprove that the Democratic Progressive Party left protesters like 
that. I saw the condition and knew there would be trouble, so at about 
10pm I left with my friends, who were not aware of how dangerous it 
might be.
Later I discussed with some friends. Of course we were not happy with 
the Democratic Progressive Party and those politicians. However, we 
thought from what we saw, it was very difficult to brought those 
protesters away. They were so angry, which is very obvious.
Some people were not happy with the violence:
群眾暴力丟擲棍棒、石塊，導致多起流血暴力衝突，這些活動有何實質意義？儼然 
形成群眾發洩的一個大舞台，不和平不理性。
These people threw rods and stones violently and caused several bloody 
violent incidents. What's the meaning of these activities? It became a 
big stage for people to express their anger. It is not peaceful, and it 
is not rational.
On the other hand, baladaily stated that what happened in the past few 
days was a culmination process of the confrontation between the 
protesters and police.
Citizens do not spontaneously become violent - and while there are 
always people in any demonstration who simply seek to cause chaos, they 
are vastly outnumbered by ordinary citizens who simply wish to express 
their dissent. It is only when those in power seek to use their 
authority to silence dissenting voices that good people may feel that 
they have little recourse. Successive administrations from both parties 
have been loath to relinquish the promise of almost unlimited authority 
offered by the current Parade and Assembly Law. What we saw over the 
last two days is simply the culmination of that process. The government 
could not resist the temptation to overstep their bounds far beyond what 
was required for public safety, and ended up facing the inevitable backlash.
Knowing that the decision of inviting Chen Yunlin to Taiwan was decided 
by the ruling party itself, jjw543 was disappointed with the ruling 
party due to what happened.
我難過是在於為什麼執政黨明知這種事的敏感性，為何不能事先與在野黨協調出最 
大共識？一意孤行，700多萬票是民意，500多萬票就不是民意？
即便少數要服從多數，也不代表多數意見就能完全漠視少數人意見一意孤行，更何 
況這個所謂的少數其實並不少，多數也沒多到那裡去，再者，投你一票的人也未必 
完全認同急速向中國靠攏主張…
I am sad because the ruling party should know how sensitive this event 
is. Why couldn't they discuss with the opposition party beforehand? Why 
did they decide what to do only by themselves? If seven million votes 
show public opinion, how can you say five million votes do not show 
public opinion?
Even if we decide that the majority rules, it does not mean that the 
majority should ignore the opinions of the minority and do whatever they 
want. Besides, the so-called minority is not a small number, and the 
so-called majority is not a very large number. In addition, people who 
voted for you may not agree to draw close to China in such a rapid pace.
At the end of the day, obs concluded that:
在這樣的時刻，重要的不是國旗、不是標語，甚至圍不圍城也已無關緊要。
　但，相信民主相信自由相信多元的每個人，都應該以自己的方式發聲。
　一個警棍伺候的城市，不會有和解。
　一個哀傷死寂的社會，不會有進步。
　一個人民不再吶喊的國度，不會有明天。
　不為任何政黨，不為任何人，此刻我們應該為自己說話。
At this moment, what is important is not the national flag, not the the 
slogans, even not besieging the city.
What is important is that everyone who believes democracy, freedom, and 
diversity should voice in our own way.
There will be no peace if the city is monitored by the policemen's rods.
There will be no progress is the society is sad and silent.
There will be no tomorrow if citizens in the country stop shouting.
Not for any political party. Not for anyone. This is the moment that we 
should voice for ourselves.

Photo courtesy of avant.







http://globalvoicesonline.org/2008/11/09/china-taiwan-a-street-violence-brought-by-an-envoy/

China: Protest in Taiwan criticized as democratic violence

Sunday, November 9th, 2008 @ 09:27 UTC
by Bob Chen
Mainland China envoy Chen Yunlin (陳雲林) flied back to Beijing 7, Nov 
after his 4-day “ice-breaking” visit to Taiwan.
As the chairman of China's Association for Relations Across the Taiwan 
Straits (ARATS), Chen, led the highest-ranked official delegation ever 
from mainland to Taiwan, to negotiate for new deals that set down 
agreements on direct shipping and flights, mail services and food 
safety. It's said to be a historic leap on cross-strait tie.
In spite that Chen allegedly came to for the peaceful and constructive 
purpose that is to “enhance the economic cooperation across the strait”, 
people sided with the “one China, one Taiwan” principle viewed it more 
than abhorrent. Even though as many as 20000 police were dispatched to 
guard the visitors, swarms of Taiwanese numbered by 100,000, most of 
them mobilized by the present out-party Democratic Progressive Party 
(DPP), still flowed to wherever Chen showed up to brandish their topmost 
hostility. It goes without saying to be a straightforward political 
demonstration to mainland that “you are not welcomed, F**K off!”
But the firepower is not only directed at the visitor. The Taiwan 
president Ma Yingjiu, has been railed against in these days for the 
crackdown of protests, speech freedom black-out, and the downgrading of 
Taiwan's sovereignty.
During the “Action of Seige”　designed by DPP to trap the envoy Chen in 
the hotel, city police responded, unfortunately, in a way to catalyze it 
into a violent clash. On 4, Nov, when Lian-zhan, the Honor President of 
KMT was dining Chen at Yuanshan hotel, the alerted police guarding 
outside forced a shop across the street to shut down the “Song of 
Taiwan” being played aloud. People exhibiting Taiwan's national flag and 
emblem were dispersed and blocked from the hotel, and speeches like 
“Taiwan doesn't belong to China” were muzzled.
The bloody clash finally broke out at the night when the present KMT 
president Guo-Boxiong dined Chen on another hotel. The police were 
confronted by a group of thousands of agitated people, including a few 
aldermen. Stones and clubs were hurled, barricades were pulled down, and 
gasoline bombs were fired. More than one hundred police were injured, 
many of them sent to hospital, while the opposing party suffered as 
well, scores of the protesters injured or arrested. Chen is thereby 
trapped in the hotel for 8 hours until midnight, a quite embarrassing 
situation to the host. The Democratic Progressive Party played a major 
role in the incident by a fanfare mobilization.
In the days following, Taiwan witnessed a mutual accusation. The 
president of Republic of China, Ma-yinjiu, criticized DDP of 
irresponsible ,who rebutted that they were just calling for a protest 
against the government's crackdown upon speech freedom.
Taiwan bloggers gave enthusiastic responses. A GV post by Taiwan author 
I-FAN shows the native bloggers' anger with the way police restrained 
people's legitimate right to protest. Some of them moaned the value of 
democracy is lost.
Meanwhile, a broadcast is on air to record a sit-in of college students 
and scholars in Taipei, against the resurgence of marshal law and 
violent authority in Taiwan.
But the other side of voices is not out of its momentum.
Blogger Xinhua posted his opinion on Duowei blog, analyzing the motive 
behind DDP's action
民进党为了摆脱其深陷“阿扁门”贪腐案而无法切割、民意极其低落的困境，企图抓 
住陈云林到达台湾的机会，发动如影随形的抗议行动，动员绿营支持者“上街” 抗 
争，重新制造岛内族群对立，以挽救其不断沉沦的态势。
DDP tried to seize the chance of the envoy's visit to rid of its hot 
potato at hand, that is, the corruption accusation of the its former 
president Chen Shuibian, and its extremely low popularity. It launched 
the protester to street to bring back group conflict on the island, and 
to restore its slumping state.
民进党街头闹事、诉诸暴力的作为被国际社会看作是民主之耻，也遭到岛内舆论的 
普遍谴责…甚至台湾一些大学生不去质疑民进党的街头暴力，反而到台“行政院” 门 
前静坐示威，抗议警察维安行为过度。显示出这些大学生对于“民主”的幼稚理解。
The street riot and DDP's resort to violence is seen internationally as 
a shame of democracy, also widely lashed out by the public opinions in 
Taiwan…. Some college students even choose to sit in against the 
police's overuse of violence rather than question the street violence. 
Their naive understanding of democracy is evident.
民主包含了和平、和解、和谐，包含着宽容、谅解、妥协，包含着沟通、协
商、谈判，恰恰没有街头抗争、聚众闹事，更不容许诉诸暴力。所以，民主首先是 
一种包容对方、严以律己的素养；“街头”运动显示一种浮躁不安，往往孕育着对抗 
与冲动，常常出现非理性、
无约束的行动，当自己的诉求久久实现不了时，会作出过激的反应，狂躁地向对 
手、向社会宣泄自己的情绪，导致社会动乱。
Democracy comprises all the peace, understanding, harmony and tolerance, 
compromise, communication, but none of street fight, mob, letting alone 
violence. So, democracy is above all a quality of discipline and 
tolerance. Street fight gives birth to irrational conflict and impulses.
Without constraint, excessive action will be made when appeal is not 
satisfied, resulting in a tumultuous society.
没有法制，也就没有民主。你可以聚会、游行、自由表达，但必须在法律允许的限 
度内进行，必须依法申请，在规定的路线或场合进行，不得
妨碍公共秩序，不得影响交通，不得妨碍、更不得伤及他人，更不得威胁社会、乃 
至国家安全。
There is not democracy without law. You can assemble, parade, express, 
but everything should certainly bein the framework of law, applied, and 
done along certain route. No harm to public order, no harm to traffic, 
and no harm to others, and the social safety.
He conclude that, there is not a slight of democracy in DPP's actions.
On youtube, a comment was made following the footage of the clash:
hastobright :
台灣的民主已經到了人民濫權的地步
不是暴民的選民應該站出來
不能再容忍這些假藉民主之名
卻破壞法治 欺負善良百姓的流氓
The democracy in Taiwan has been put to the extent of people's abuse of 
right.
Those non-mob voters should stand out not to withstand such hooligans 
any more.
Now a critical question: is Taiwan over-democratic? Is citizen 
disobedience allowed to such an extent of violence?
Whatever clash is left on the island, CPC this time made itself a big 
gain. It wins popular support, embarrasses the Taiwan authority so that 
it can further pressure it near the mainland, and signs treaties with 
practical meaning. That might be why the chief of State Office of 
Taiwan, Wangyi, praised the home-coming Chen Yunlin: You don't 
disappoint your mission.
• Stephan Larose
I highly, highly doubt that the DPP was somehow able to control the 
crowd and coordinate its movements. Xinhua’s assertion that people have 
limited rights to protest “within the framework of law” demonstrates a 
typical, authoritarian response to democracy, IE, the Olympic “protest 
zones.” There are protest zones, but the “law” says nobody can protest. 
If a law is immoral, then it is no law at all. Violence and 
“hooliganism” (what an atrocious word) can be avoided only there is more 
democracy. There is an extremely large demographic in Taiwan that do not 
want Taiwan to become subject to Chinese rule, they deserve a place at 
the negotiating table as a stakeholder. Give dissenting parties a seat 
at the table and you avoid violence. Send out 100,000 police to take 
away their right to hold flags, sing the national anthem, and voice 
dissent, and you will cause violence. That’s the response of a police 
state clawing back civil rights. It’s a provocation, and of course the 
public will respond. That’s not news, that’s democracy 101. Get a clue Bob.
# 2008-11-10 at 2:50 am
Reply to this
• Steven Chiang
now u guys still dont see why Taiwanese people are striking. Taiwan is 
acttually being sold to China, the treaties are bringing Taiwan too 
close to China and the KMT part are actually selling Taiwan. This is 
crap for over 60% of Taiwan and they are pissed. If Taiwan acctually 
becomes China, u’ll see lots of people commit suicide or u’ll see riots 
and hell will break loose in Taiwan. There will be a civil war before 
Taiwan becomes part of China. So great to see u guys want that to 
happen. People are angry trust me, the DPP are the only party that 
acctually cares about these people. People do you think calling them 
violent will stop them? No! they will continue to fight for their 
countries freedom, and they all might as well fight to there deaths. 
Once China owns Taiwan, all is dead. BTW, Whats so important about 
Taiwan to China that China cant just let Taiwan be a free country? Also, 
screw China and KMT.






http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/archives/2008/11/09/2003428103

Students reconvene, protest on
ROUND TWO: Although demonstrators were evicted on Friday, many returned 
to continue their sit-in, demanding an apology for how police handled 
last week’s protests
By Lin Chia-chi
STAFF REPORTER, WITH STAFF WRITER
Sunday, Nov 09, 2008, Page 1

A protester winces as rain beats down on him at National Taiwan 
Democracy Memorial Hall in downtown Taipei yesterday. Hundreds of 
college students have taken part in a sit-in protest against 
heavy-handed policing of recent demonstrations.
PHOTO: LO PEI-DER, TAIPEI TIMES
“We want human rights!” chanted students at National Taiwan Democracy 
Memorial Hall as they continued their sit-in for a third day, demanding 
an apology from the government over what they called the “rough” tactics 
used by police to deal with protesters during the visit by China’s 
Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait Chaiman Chen Yunlin 
(陳雲林) last week.
Despite the poor weather yesterday, more than 100 students wore simple 
raincoats and remained sitting in protest in the Taipei rain.

The first two days of the sit-in protest saw hot, humid weather. 
Yesterday, downpours began at around 10am.

“The first trials of the weather have started, but despite our efforts, 
no one has stepped up to respond to our demands,” Hsu Ching-fang (許菁 
芳), president of the National Taiwan University Student Association, 
said to the crowd of students in the rain.

About 400 students, led by assistant professor of sociology at National 
Taiwan University Lee Ming-tsung (李明璁), started the sit-in in front 
of the Executive Yuan on Thursday at noon. The students believe that 
police, while protecting the safety of Chen and his delegation, acted 
improperly and that freedom of speech had been suppressed.

Students brave the rain yesterday to protest at Taipei’s National Taiwan 
Democracy Memorial Hall against the government’s handling of the recent 
street demonstrations. Their banner reads “A whole new feeling for the 
past martial law.”
PHOTO: CNA
The student demonstrators were forcibly evicted by police from the front 
gate of the Executive Yuan on Friday night because they had not applied 
to conduct a protest there.

The students linked their arms together and refused to leave. Police had 
to take them away to nearby police vehicles, and then drove them to 
National Taiwan University.
“It is no longer a technical question of excessive law enforcement 
tactics, nor is it simply a partisan issue between supporters of various 
political parties. This is a proliferation of state-sponsored violence.”

— student statement

Some students later reconvened in Liberty Square at National Taiwan 
Democracy Memorial Hall to continue the sit-in.

“Police officers have engaged in numerous abusive acts against peaceful 
protesters from various dissenting groups, under the guise of ‘keeping 
the peace,’” read an English statement issued by the students. “These 
acts have included arbitrary searches and prohibitions, seizure and 
destruction of property, physical assault, dispersion, and even arrest 
and detention.”

“Through reports in the media, we have come to realize the seriousness 
of the current situation. It is no longer a technical question of 
excessive law enforcement tactics, nor is it simply a partisan issue 
between supporters of various political parties. This is a proliferation 
of state-sponsored violence that is provoking and attacking civil 
society. All these oppressive acts, which ignore human rights and 
democratic values, are reminiscent of martial law,” the statement said. 
The students yesterday insisted that they would continue with the sit-in 
protest until their three appeals were met: an open apology from 
President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) and Premier Liu Chao-shiuan (劉兆玄) to 
all citizens, the resignations of National Police Agency 
Director-General Wang Cho-chiun (王卓鈞) and National Security Bureau 
Director Tsai Chaoming (蔡朝明) and the swift amendment of the Assembly 
and Parade Law (集會遊行法).

Some observers compared the sit-in to the Wild Lily Student Movement (野 
百合學運) of 1990, which started as a student movement that eventually 
drew hundreds of thousands calling for political reforms, including the 
abolition of the National Assembly.

The protest this time not only brought students from different schools 
to the sit-in, but also redefined social movements as the students used 
the Internet to promote their appeal.

They have launched Internet petitions and set up live streaming videos 
with audiences all over Taiwan and in the US, Japan, Holland and Germany.
TAKE TURNS

The students have taken turns hosting the event in various languages. 
They also opened lines for call-ins during the night.

Sitting with the students, Lee said: “Taiwan’s youth still care about 
public issues, only nowadays, they are using new channels to voice their 
concerns.”

The Taipei City Government yesterday urged the student demonstrators to 
complete the legal processes for holding the protest.

Yang Hsiao-tung (羊曉東), the city government’s spokesman, said the 
sit-in protest, which was organized by students and has continued for 
more than one day, was an illegal demonstration.

He urged the students to apply with the city government for a rally 
permit to turn the sit-in into a legal protest.

“As the illegal protests during the past week have caused social 
instability, we urge the students to follow the law and apply for rally 
permits to prevent unnecessary confrontations between the police and 
protesters,” he said at Taipei City Hall.

Yang said the city government would grant the students a rally permit if 
they filed applications according to regulations.

Meanwhile, the Democratic Progressive Party yesterday lent support to 
the students, and urged Ma to deliver on his campaign promise to change 
the Assembly and Parade Law so that notification would be enough to 
stage a protest rather than having to apply first with authorities.

ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY MO YAN-CHIH, JIMMY CHUANG AND CNA






http://www.chinapost.com.tw/taiwan/local/taipei/2008/11/09/182353/Students-continue.htm

Students continue sit-in to protest unfair assembly laws
TAIPEI, Taiwan -- Scores of college students continued their sit-in 
protest yesterday in a downtown Taipei park demanding changes to the 
assembly law in the wake of huge controversies sparked by a recent visit 
by China’s top envoy.
The students, bracing the rains, were staging the protest at the Liberty 
Square after they had been carried away by police from the Cabinet 
building’s front gate where they had been holding a sit-in demonstration 
Friday.
They later continued their action at the square near the presidential 
palace.
They were protesting what they said was the police’s over-protection for 
Chen Yunlin, head of the Association for Relations Across the Taiwan 
Strait (ARATS).
The tight security measures to protect the Chinese visitor were denying 
the people’s rights to stage demonstrations, they argued.
They demand that the government revise the assembly law that requires 
demonstration organizers to submit applications seven days in advance.
They said they were staging the “illegal” sit-in protest to underline 
the fact that assembly law violates the people’s constitutional rights 
to hold public demonstrations and rallies.
Government spokesman Vanessa Shih said the government had heard the 
students demand.
But Shih stressed “legality” as the precondition for any expressing 
one’s views in a democratic society.
The issue of having the assembly revised can be discussed, but the 
government hopes the students can resort to a rational and legal way of 
doing it, she said.
She said the students could have applied for permission to hold a 
demonstration to express their views, or used legal channels to lobby 
legislators.
Shih said police and education officials were trying to talk the 
students into ending the protest.
Police said they would not disperse the students in the meantime, as 
they were not obstructing traffic in the city.
But they urged them to obtain a legal basis for the protest by 
submitting an application, so that their rights to hold public 
assemblies could be protected.
Education Minister Cheng Jei-cheng voiced concern over students’ safety.
He said that the students should take care not to catch a cold in the 
rains, and that they should give top priority to their school work.
Legislator Chang Shou-wen, a whip of the ruling Kuomintang, disclosed 
that some members of the party caucus have already submitted a bill to 
revise the assembly law.
Chang said the KMT caucus does not oppose the bill, which proposes that 
public assemblies need no permits, and that no areas be off limits to 
demonstrations.
According to the bill, organizers will only need to inform authorities 
of their demonstration plans, but will not need to obtain an approval.
KMT Legislator Wu Yu-sheng said the bill has already passed the first 
reading at the Legislature.
As the Legislature currently focuses on screening the budget bills, the 
revisions to the assembly law is likely to be discussed further in the 
next legislative session in spring, he said.
But Wu stressed that the proposed revisions have nothing to do with last 
week’s violent anti-China protests by the main opposition Democratic 
Progressive Party.
He said if the DPP does not observes the law, any changes to the 
assembly law would be futile.
KMT Legislator Chou Shou-hsun said the timing of the revisions is a 
sensitive matter. If it came on the heels of the recent violent 
protests, it would be taken as tolerance of violence, he said.
DPP Legislator Lai Ching-te lauded the students for their actions, 
saying they have the full support of his party caucus.
DPP Legislator Huang Wei-che gave 100 percent backing for the students.
He said if they do not need to obtain a permit, demonstration organizers 
will be fully responsible for the activities, while the authorities will 
still need arrange police to maintain order.






http://www.chinapost.com.tw/taiwan/national/national-news/2008/11/10/182455/Liberty-Square.htm

Monday, November 10, 2008 9:40 am TWN, The China Post news staff
Liberty Square student sit-in protesters give name to movement
TAIPEI, Taiwan -- University students staging a sit-in protest at the 
Liberty Square last night decided to title their protest the “Wild 
Strawberry Movement,” and will unite university and college students 
around the island to demand liberal changes to the Assembly Law to 
further safeguard Taiwan’s democracy, liberty and human rights.
Spokesman Hsu Jen-shou of the movement, said that wild strawberry boasts 
a strong and tenacious vitality, and therefore participants in the “Wild 
Strawberry Movement” won’t bow to pressure, so as to scrap the 
impression that current university students are of “greenhouse 
strawberry generations” that are fragile and can hardly resist any 
pressure from the outside world.
Hsu said the existing Assembly Law allegedly violates the free-assembly 
spirit of the Constitution, thus undermining the human rights.
Accordingly, they demand the government revise the law that now requires 
organizers to submit applications seven days in advance for any public 
rally.
The students, bracing the rains, were staging the protest at Liberty 
Square after they had been carried away by police from the Cabinet’s 
Building front gate when they had been holding a sit-in demonstration 
last Friday.
They were protesting what they said was the police’s over-protection for 
Chen Yunlin, president of the Association for Relations Across the 
Taiwan Straits.
The tight security measures to protect the Chinese visitor were denying 
the people’s rights to stage demonstrations, they argued.
Also yesterday, former President Chen Shui-bian called for President Ma 
Ying Ying-jeou to positively respond to the request by the sit-in 
students, saying that their request is quite reasonable.






http://www.chinapost.com.tw/taiwan/local/taipei/2008/11/15/183266/Students-to.htm

November 15, 2008 10:20 am TWN, CNA
Students to expand sit-in protest today
TAIPEI, Taiwan -- The organizers of a recently established student 
movement pushing for reform of Taiwan’s assembly law announced yesterday 
their plan to expand their ongoing sit-in protest.
According to Lin Yu-hsuan, spokesman for the Taiwan Wild Strawberries 
Movement, the sit-in, which has been held at Taipei’s Liberty Square 
since last Friday, will be expanded on Saturday and is expected to draw 
approximately 1,000 participants, including student representatives from 
Hsinchu, Taichung, Chiayi, Tainan and Kaohsiung.
The sit-in once saw around 500 students participate, but the number has 
dropped to below 100 over the past few days as many returned to school 
to sit for midterm exams.
Lin said the group does not rule out the possibility that politicians 
sympathizing with their cause may be invited to take part. They have 
previously banned non students from participating.
Lin said the group will continue their peaceful demonstration until 
their appeals are answered, with disregard for possible dispersal by the 
police.
Over the past week, the group of students has been staging the sit-in to 
protest against what they called the use of excessive force by police to 
disperse pro-independence demonstrators who protested against the recent 
visit to Taiwan by a Chinese envoy.
The envoy, Chen Yunlin, president of the Beijing-based Association for 
Relations Across the Taiwan Straits, is China’s top negotiator with 
Taiwan. He was in the country from Nov. 3-7 to sign four non-political 
pacts with his Taiwan counterpart Chiang Pin-kung, chairman of the 
Straits Exchange Foundation.
Some protesters, who feared the visit and agreements would jeopardize 
Taiwan’s independence and sovereignty, threw bottles and rocks at police 
and pushed down police barricades. Police responded by spraying water at 
the protesters, scuffling with some of them, and arresting others.
In addition to demanding an open apology from President Ma Ying-jeou and 
Premier Liu Chao-shiuan, the student group is also asking for the 
replacement of National Security Bureau Director General Tsai Chao-ming 
and National Police Agency Director-General Wang Cho-chiun.
Furthermore, the students want the Parade and Assembly Law be amended to 
relax its restrictions on people’s right to demonstrate. Protesters had 
complained their application to protest in many areas were rejected. Ma 
said in a radio interview Wednesday that Minister of the Interior Liao 
Liou-yi has on many occasions apologized over the alleged misconduct by 
law-enforcement officers and promised to review the methods adopted by 
the police in performing their duties.
Ma admitted there was room for improvement in the performance of Tsai 
and Wang in handling the demonstrations, but said “this was not to an 
extent where they should be removed from their posts.”
The president said the legislative caucus of the ruling Kuomintang will 
hold a public hearing to discuss a possible amendment to the Parade and 
Assembly law, with representatives of the protesting students to be 
invited to express their opinions at the hearing.






http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2008/11/15/2003428655

Strawberries returning to sit-in protest
GROWING: A spokesman for the student movement said that the sit-in 
protest was expected to draw about 1,000 participants from around the 
nation today

STAFF WRITER, WITH CNA
Saturday, Nov 15, 2008, Page 4
The organizers of a recently established student movement pushing for 
reform of the Assembly and Parade Law (集會遊行法) announced yesterday a 
plan to expand the sit-in protest.
Lin Yu-hsuan (林邑軒), spokesman for the Taiwan Wild Strawberries 
Movement, said the week-long sit-in at Taipei’s Liberty Square would be 
expanded today and was expected to draw approximately 1,000 
participants, including student representatives from Hsinchu, Taichung, 
Chiayi, Tainan and Kaohsiung.

The sit-in earlier saw around 500 students participate, but the number 
has dropped to below 100 over the past few days as many returned to 
school for mid-term exams.

Lin said the group did not rule out the possibility that politicians 
sympathizing with their cause may be invited to take part. They had 
previously banned non-students from participating.

Lin said the group would continue their peaceful demonstration until 
their appeals were answered, disregarding possible dispersal by the police.

Over the past week, the group of students has been staging the sit-in to 
protest what they called the use of excessive force by police to 
disperse pro-independence demonstrators during a recent visit to Taiwan 
by Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits Chairman Chen 
Yunlin (陳雲林).

In addition to demanding an apology from President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) 
and Premier Liu Chao-shiuan (劉兆玄), the student group is also asking 
for the resignations of National Security Bureau Director-General Tsai 
Chao-ming (蔡朝明) and National Police Agency Director-General Wang 
Cho-chun (王卓鈞).

The students also want the assembly law to be amended to relax its 
restrictions on people’s right to demonstrate. Protesters had complained 
that their applications to protest were rejected in many areas.

In a radio interview on Wednesday, Ma said there was room for 
improvement in Tsai and Wang’s performance in handling the 
demonstrations, but added: “This was not to the extent that they should 
be removed from their posts.”







http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2008/11/29/2003429831

Academic calls for dedicated protest zones
RALLY: Setting up special demonstration zones would remove the need for 
people who want to protest to apply for a permit, a professor said
By Flora Wang
STAFF REPORTER
Saturday, Nov 29, 2008, Page 4
A university professor yesterday urged government agencies around the 
country to establish special zones for demonstrations to allow the 
public to voice demands.
Chen Chwen-wen (陳淳文), a political science professor at National 
Taiwan University (NTU), told a school forum that with the establishment 
of such zones, people who wish to protest would only have to complete an 
on-site registration instead of having to seek approval from law 
enforcement authorities prior to a demonstration as stipulated in the 
Assembly and Parade Law (集會遊行法).

Liberty Square in front of National Taiwan Democracy Memorial Hall could 
also be turned into a “demonstration square,” he said.

Chen said the Assembly and Parade Law's ban on demonstrations at certain 
locations should also be relaxed.

The law prohibits protests in the immediate vicinity of the Presidential 
Office, the Executive Yuan, the Judicial Yuan, the Examination Yuan, 
courts and the residences of the president and vice president.

Demonstrations are also banned outside international airports, sea 
ports, important military facilities, foreign consulates and the Taiwan 
offices of international organizations.

“The biggest difference between us and the People's Republic of China is 
that we are a democracy and a nation ruled by law,” Chen said.

Chang Wen-chen (張文貞), a law professor at NTU, said legislators and 
civic groups were “on the right track” in seeking to amend the law.

Chang said many local civic groups had been forced to end their peaceful 
demonstrations just because they had not or were unable to obtain 
approval from the authorities.

If the proposed amendment were passed, there would never be another 
demonstration in Taiwan deemed illegal from the start, she said.

“Anyone can freely assemble and parade without having to obtain approval 
from the police,” Chang said. “However, demonstrators must also respect 
other people's freedom and obey the law.”