Taiwan Church News 3204 Edition July 22-28, 2013 Headline News Reported by Lin Yi-ying On August 17, 2010, former Prime Minister Wu Den-yih, who is Vice President now, wrote down a clear guarantee, assuring tothe Dapu village people "all the buildings and the related grounds will be kept intact on their original place". But, at 10:30 am on July 18 2013, 600 policemen were recruited to forcefully pulled out all protesters, Miaoli government hired a gigantic crane to demolish the remaining 4 Dapu buildings including Chang Pharmacy. This bigoted government violence reminded the public what astonished Taiwan on June 9th 2010: Miaoli government sent in a crane to destroyed the rice field impending to harvest. And this brutal violence done by Miaoli governor, Liu Cheng-hon, who ordered to destroy the harvest rice field and demolish the legally buildings, angered the Dapu Self-Help Committee and Taiwan Village Youth Front to condemn the Miaoli government as a "Jackal Government" and "Heavenly Retribution Await!" In the morning of July 18th, when nine opposition groups like Dapu Self-Help Committee, Taiwan Village Youth Front, Hou-longCemetery Self-Help committee and etc went to Presidential Office to voice their protest, Miaoli government used this chance to recruit police force and swiftly demolish 4 remained buildings. After learning this information, Mrs. Peng Shu-chun, the owner of Chang Pharmacy, was fainted and sent to NTU Hospital due to a physical confrontation with the police; all the protesters of Taiwan Village Youth Front were also in custody and forced to leave the demonstration site at Ketagalan Avenue. Though Miaoli governor Liu Cheng-hon triumphantly claimed this thunderbolt demolition as a "Heavenly Granted Opportunity", Tsai Pei-hui as spokeswoman of the TVYF angrily cried out and rebuked Miaoli goverment as shamelessly bigoted. "This is to summon a revolution!", she shouted in tears. In the afternoon of July 18th, Yang Ju-men with his friends Lee Jien-chen, once the renowned activists of AgriculturalMovements, went to Presidential Office to throw the paint before the front gate, and immediately caught in custody by police. Also, on the early morning of July 19th, Chen Wei-ting of Tsing-Hua University went to the residential house of Miaoligovernor of Liu Cheng-hon and also threw the paint to protest. He was got caught by police, and caused governor Liu angrily to lash him out. After the demolition, Professor Hsu Hse-jung of Land Administration Dept. of National Cheng Cheh University carried on a sitin protest at the original place of Chang Pharmacy, but brutally beaten and driven away, then taken into police station for further inquiry. This harsh measure to deal with peaceful protesters, including university professors, ignited the furor of Taiwanese lawyers. They are collecting the signature petition, protesting about the police actions toward demonstrators has become more and more violent. After the demolition, Miaoli government took a swift action to pave the asphalt, paint the crossing zebra on the clearedground of the remaining 4 buildings. Some protesting posts, hanging on the only left land, which is less than 1 square meter and belonging to Chang Pharmacy, were also confiscated by environmental cleaning team. This ruthless mindset of Miaoli governor to cleanse everything lying ahead his way is beyond what the expression - a bigoted jerk - can describe. Translated by Peter Wolfe |