Tsai said that “Operation Siege,” which prompted 100,000 people to take to Taipei streets to protest the visit of the mainland’s top envoy, has delivered a message to Beijing that cross-strait ties cannot be dictated by President Ma Ying-jeou or the ruling Kuomintang (KMT) alone.

Tsai, however, did not mention the chaos and violence resulting from the demonstration, nor the fact that more than 100 police were attacked and injured by the demonstrators.

Operation Siege, intended to have DPP supporters gather outside the Taipei Guest House during the meeting between President Ma and Chen Yunlin, chairman of the mainland’s Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait (ARATS), paralyzed traffic in the entire downtown area of Taipei City.

The chaos around National Taiwan University Hospital was especially serious, making it impossible for people seeking emergency treatment to acquire the medical care they urgently needed.

The protests were supposed to end at 5:30 p.m. when Tsai Ing-wen urged the crowd to disperse and leave. However, many demonstrators stayed and continued their protest, and headed to the Taipei Grand Hotel, where Chen and the mainland visitors accompanying him were staying during their visit.

The demonstrators ran wild after nightfall when hundreds turned violent outside the Grand Hotel, clashing with the police. Some of the protesters pelted police with rocks as large as a man’s fist, others threw Molotov cocktails. The result was that about 200 people were injured, including 149 police.

Legislators of the governing KMT condemned the violence, and blamed Tsai for failing to control the demonstrators. According to news reports, Tsai tried to persuade the protesters to halt their behavior, and left after being unable to restrain the crowd.

Former Vice President Annette Lu, a core member of the DPP, also commented negatively on Operation Siege, stating that Tsai’s leadership left something to be desired.

1|2|Next Page>>

SharePrintEmail

Write a Comment

Enter your comments - 1000 characters max

Type in image code

Submit

 Receive China Post promos Respond to this email