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60,000 protest Chen Shui-bian in Taipei
(Agencies)
Updated: 2004-04-04 11:07 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.
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Supporters of Taiwan's opposition
Nationalist Party confront Taiwan police in Taipei April 4, 2004. More
than 60,000 supporters of the party protested on Saturday to demand an
independent inquiry into an election-eve assassination attempt on Chen
Shui-bian that they say swung the poll.
[Reuters]
| 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."
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| Taiwan policemen remove a
supporter of Taiwan's main opposition Nationalist Party (KMT) in front
of Chen Shui-bian's office in Taipei on April 4, 2004.
[Reuters] | 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 a.m. (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.
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Taiwan policewomen remove a supporter of
Taiwan's main opposition Nationalist Party (KMT) in front of Chen
Shui-bian's office in Taipei on April 4,
2004. [Reuters]
| 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 U.S.
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.
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