MARCHING SEASON:The TSU protest follows a DPP protest, while more protests by the Taiwan National Alliance, Hakka groups and others are also planned
By Chris Wang / Staff reporter
The Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) and civic groups yesterday urged supporters to participate in various protests to be held around President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) inauguration ceremony on May 20 to voice their discontent with the administration.
At a massive protest at Huashan 1914 Creative Park, arranged by the TSU for the morning of May 20, people will be invited to throw eggs at a giant LCD screen broadcasting Ma’s inauguration ceremony, TSU Chairman Huang Kun-huei (黃昆輝) said.
Held on the heels of the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) rally the previous day, which will end at the park, the protest is scheduled to begin at 8am and protesters plan to march to “as close as we can get” to the Presidential Office, Huang said.
The TSU’s demonstration intends to highlight Ma’s “cheating the people,” including betraying his pledges to return the ill-gotten party assets of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and to freeze the prices of fuel and electricity that he had made before the presidential election, Huang said.
The pro-independence Taiwan Nation Alliance has also announced it would stage a four-day protest between May 17 and May 20 on Chingtao E Rd.
Hakka groups in Miaoli, Hsinchu and Taoyuan counties are set to announce their support for the DPP’s protest today at Yimin (Heroes) Temple in Miaoli County.
The groups said in a press release that they would call on Hakka to attend the May 19 rally and voice their anger over Ma’s poor performance, in particular his neglect of infrastructure and cultural preservation in Hakka-populated regions.
Civic groups led by the Alliance of Referendum for Taiwan have scheduled protests from May 13 through May 21 at the Taipei Railway Station.
There has also been an ongoing anti-Ma protest in Taipei — a sit-in by a group of young DPP city councilors on Ketagalan Boulevard.