More than 60,000 supporters of Taiwan's opposition party
protested Saturday to demand an independent inquiry into an
election-eve assassination attempt on Chen Shui-bian that they say
swung the poll.
Led by chairman Lien Chan of the opposition Nationalist Party,
they waved flags and tooted horns at Taipei's Chiang Kai-shek
Memorial Hall in the second major demonstration after the hotly
disputed election on March 20.
Around-the-clock protests and the violent storming of election
commission offices have divided the island of 23 million. China
views the pro-independence Chen as a serious threat to Asian
stability.
The Nationalists have warned of "endless" protests if their
demands are not met and Lien said they could hold another rally on
April 10. "We will continue to let Mr Chen Shui-bian know that he
must bow to people power," Lien told the cheering crowd. "We demand
the truth. We will not stop until the truth is clear."
Chen won the election by less than 30,000 votes out of more than 13
million cast, the day after he was shot and injured slightly in the
stomach while campaigning in an open-top jeep in the southern city
of Tainan. Lien says the shooting caused a swelling of sympathy
votes and raised suspicions it may have been staged.
"The whole shooting episode was suspicious. This election was
unfair," said elementary school teacher Lu Shu-yuei. "I have no
respect for him and I don't trust our government," she told
reporters.
Clash with Police
After the rally ended, a few hundred people walked to the square in
front of the nearby "presidential" office to continue their
demonstration. The protest began peacefully, but shortly after 1 am
(1700 GMT), the crowd tried to storm a barricade and clashed with
helmeted riot police who used their shields to push them back.
Some protestors who threw bottles, chairs and road barriers were
detained. No one appeared to be seriously injured.
Lien led half a million people to the square on March 27 to
dispute the election's outcome. The protest was Taiwan's biggest
and ended a week-long sit-in outside Chen Shuibian's office. "After
today, we're going to wind down the rallies. We're not going to
hold daily rallies any more, maybe weekly or bi-weekly," said Su
Chi, one of Lien's top aides.
Su said the opposition will focus on a vote recount and the
investigation into the shooting. "If these clouds are not cleared
away, Chen's presidency will be marred for four straight years," he
said.
The Nationalists have filed a lawsuit to nullify Chen's razor-thin
victory, and at a hearing Friday the judges gave both sides five
days to agree the terms of a recount. The lawsuit also cites voting
irregularities and a record 330,000 invalid ballots cast.
Chen has agreed to a full recount, which would include the
spoiled ballots. However, his Democratic Progressive Party has
rejected a proposal by the Nationalist Party to pass a special law
that would allow an independent inquiry into the bizarre shooting
on March 19
In a bid to meet opposition demands, Chen Shuibian permitted a
team of US forensic experts to examine his wound and gave them
access to evidence in the case. Before returning to the United
States, the team said Chen's injury was indeed a gunshot wound, but
said further conclusions required more analysis of data.
(China Daily April 5, 2004)
