A Day of Protests

There has been a day of full protests here in Taipei. After lunch, Sayaka and I headed downtown to see what was going on. Chiang Kai-shek memorial hall and the surrounding area was pretty empty but a few thousand people were protesting in front of the KMT headquarters and the red presidential building. You can download all my pictures I took from today’s protests and last night’s victory rally near the DPP headquarters here (18 MB) but I’ll take them down eventually.



Opposition leaders Lian and Song are ready for a post-election war. After Chen Shuibian was elected for another term by a razor edge lead, opposition leaders Lian and Song declared the election invalid and their intention to sue for irregularities in the votes, etc. The votes are going to be recounted and the investigation into the assassination attempt on the 19th continues.



The protests on TV were getting out of hand with some rioting and violence around the country. What we saw was quite calm by comparison, with snack booths set up, songs being sung, and drinks and sandwiches being passed out to protesters. The government buildings were cordoned off by barbed wire and police lines on all sides, but individuals could pass through the 2/28 Memorial Park to get behind the police lines.



The riot police were friendly, that is, those who were still conscious. The police had been there since late last night when the protests started. They seemed to be rotating between those manning the lines and the dozens who were sleeping in their riot gear along the edge of the park or, if awake, enjoying a relaxed coffee in the park’s cafe. Some waved, one yelled in English, “Welcome to Taiwan” and I spoke a bit to one exhausted riot police officer surounded by the rest of his sleeping unit. No one seemed to be bothered by the fact we were wandering around in their carefully cordoned off area or that stray KMT protesters were wandering in from the park. I did hear however, that apparently this area was closed off more tightly later in the day as the protesters grew in number.

Later in the day TV showed more scenes of violence (a KMT truck tried to break through police lines somewhere) which my KMT friend assured me was rare (indeed we were puzzled at one TV shot of a man shaking the fence near where the above police line picture is – he could have just walked around if he wanted to get to the other side. The media was definitely looking for anything juicy) and there have been lots more photos released of Chen Shuibian’s exposed belly button, dazed face during his surgery, and various medical files all designed to put to an end questions about the assassination attempt.