Hey Moe, it’s Taiwan’s boitday! We forgot to get ’em somethin’. Nyuk, nyuk, nyuk.
I’ll give YOU somethin’, you knucklehead…
(Finger in eye)
(Photo from University of Kansas-Lawrence.)
Quit clownin’ around, Einsteen, and tell the nice people about the boitday.
Why, sointenee!
The Taiwan News informs us of some of the goings-on:
Apparently aggravated by the seating arrangement, Kuomintang [KMT] Legislator Lee Ching-hua stood up during President Chen Shui-bian’s address and repeatedly shouted slogans, demanding that Chen step down.
Provoked by Lee’s efforts to embarrass the president, Democratic Progressive Party [DPP] Legislator Lin Kuo-ching took a swing at Lee and a brief scuffle erupted…
Watched some of the Taiwanese TV coverage yesterday, and saw a few men in suits trying to avoid police by ducking in and out of an official parade. Since I don’t understand Mandarin, I had no idea until the next day about what happened:
…a group of [pro-Communist] People First Party lawmakers, led by [PFP Chairman James] Soong, disrupted the honor guard procession in front of the Presidential Office, marching along with the guards, shouting anti-Chen slogans and holding anti-Chen banners.
The incident turned into a cat-and-mouse game when the security guards were forced to chase Soong and his followers…who weaved in and out [of] procession and completely ignored the security guards’ instructions to move away.
Some DPP legislators, angered by the PFP’s obvious attempts to humiliate the president, ran up to the opposition lawmakers and began to throw punches at them.
The Taipei Times reported a few cases of KMT violence as well:
[There were] scuffles in which [DPP] Legislator Lee Ming-hsien (
李明憲) and Sanlih TV staff were "beaten," as well as the egging of DPP Legislator Lin Kuo-ching’s ( 林國慶) car.
Not sure I understand the sneer quotes around the word "beaten". They were either beaten, or they weren’t. If instead, they were physically harassed, then the writer ought to say so.
Anyway. Following the ceremonies, anti-[President] Chen protesters gave visiting dignitaries a memorable taste of Taiwanese hospitality:
Meanwhile, protesters had gathered around the fringes of the ceremony zone, and tried to block the four lanes of Zhonghua Road to prevent Chen Shui-bian’s motorcade from leaving.
Unable to tell which car the president was in, the crowd rushed onto the road from the sidewalks whenever an official-looking black car appeared.
Several of the entrapped vehicles were carrying top government officials and foreign diplomatic guests. Protesters encircled the vehicles, smacking and kicking at the cars while shouting: "A-bian step down!" [Emphasis added. A-bian is President Chen’s nickname – The Foreigner]
With the number of anti-Chen redshirts present, it could have been much, much worse. Whether you believe the redshirts’ own attendance numbers (1.5 million), the China Post‘s figures (300,000) or police statistics (120,000), the protesters vastly outnumbered the 5,000-man police presence. If the redshirts had actually followed through on their mooted plans to push through police barricades, things could have gotten really ugly.
(Wednesday’s China Post finally took a look at the color of the redshirts’ uniforms, noting, "They wore red shirts the way Benito Mussolini’s Blackshirts wore their black shirts." Funny, but just a few days ago, the paper was comparing them to the Freedom Riders – the American civil rights protesters from the 1960s. Which probably means someone at the China Post is a bit touchy that the redshirts’ leader, Shih Ming-teh, recently took a few potshots at KMT Chairman Ma-Ying-jeou’s own corruption record*.)
The Taipei Times noted that at the end of the day, all the theatrics failed to put Taiwan on the international media map – CNN was far more interested in North Korea’s nuclear test and in paramilitary death squad activity in Iraq. Meanwhile, a Taiwan News editorial pointed out that independence parties will henceforth be loath to participate in National Day ceremonies (which they don’t have an emotional attachment to, anyway) now that the KMT has demonstrated its willingness to disrupt one of its holiest days for political purposes. I’ll go a step further than that, though. I think Taiwanese independence parties will nevermore be much inhibited from disrupting Double Ten Day themselves, if they calculate it being in their interests to do so.
I cannot end without mentioning this irresistible detail:
A middle-aged woman caused a stir when, prior to the start of the ceremony, she threatened to immolate herself by igniting a bottle of liquid in the restricted area. Police carried the woman away, and the bottle was found to contain only water.
She tried to set herself on fire using H2O as an accelerant?
Now ain’t that just like a woman.
(Woo, woo, woo, woo, woo, woo, woo, woo, woo, woo, woo, woo!)
(Image from Beckett.com.)
* Postscript: A more probable reason for the China Post‘s pique: The View from Taiwan observes that Shih Ming-teh dissed [Taipei mayor and KMT Chairman] Ma Ying-jeou big-time "by not even bothering to apply for a permit to hold a demonstration," as well as by "constantly changing [the protest march] direction and completely fouling up the city’s traffic."
Shih made the KMT’s Golden Boy look ineffectual and weak, and so media adulation must be put on hold for a spell. For now, try to remember: Shih Ming-teh is Il Duce.
UPDATE: The View from Taiwan has a good round-up of what other bloggers had to say about the festivities.
UPDATE (Oct 16/06): A Friday China Post headline: Controversy over control of anti-Chen mob. From anti-corruption protesters to mob. Further evidence the China Post is royally ticked with Shih Ming-teh, despite Saturday’s denial.
i-2