Occupiers of Taiwan Legislative Yuan Extend the Protest Indefinitely
due to Lack of a Positive Response from the President
due to Lack of a Positive Response from the President
The protesters occupied Taiwan's legislature, the Legislative Yuan, on the 18th late at night. An increasing amount of supporters continue to gather rapidly to occupy and surround the legislature. The cumulative number of participants has already exceeded thirty thousand in this continuing protest.
Protesters Continue to Occupy the Legislative Yuan
There are three main reasons behind the protesters’ gathering:
1. The government's failure to denounce the improper and undemocratic procedure for passing the Cross-Strait Service Trade Agreement (herein referred to as the Agreement),
2. The lack of information transparency during the signing process of the Agreement, and
3. The inequalities within the Agreement between Taiwan and China.
2. The lack of information transparency during the signing process of the Agreement, and
3. The inequalities within the Agreement between Taiwan and China.
The demonstrators inside the Legislative Yuan are mostly university students, and the live webcast from inside of the parliament chamber shows them chanting the campaign slogan, “Rescind the service trade pact, defend democracy.” They also demand a direct and immediate public response from President Ma Ying-Jeou and Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-Pyng.
Gathering outside of the building are a demographically diverse group of Taiwanese people, including but not restricted to students, scholars and salarymen, voicing their opinions on makeshift stages. Foreigners in Taiwan have also expressed concern about the legislature takeover and the demonstrations. The opposition parties have called on KMT, the current ruling party, to “respect Taiwan’s democracy and review the Agreement clause by clause.”
The Executive Yuan and the Legislative Yuan negotiations have failed
In response to the protests, President Ma Ying-Jeou commented: “There has been a prolonged delay in the [passing of the] Cross-Strait Services Trade Agreement. I hope that we can all try our best to pass this Agreement before the end of this meeting session in Legislative Yuan.”
Ma announced that he would call for a meeting with the Executive and the Legislature Yuan to negotiate a solution to the conflicts on the morning of March 20th. However, the Legislative Speaker, Wang Jin-Pyng, did not attend the meeting due to “Constitutional procedure concerns". Wang also claimed that “the root of this conflict lies in the different opinions regarding the approaches to the reviewing procedure of the Trade Agreement. At this moment, the most important thing is to find the root cause of the problem and solve it.”
Unlimited Time as Rights to Assemble and Protest Approved
On the morning of March 21st, the Chief Justice of Taiwan ruled that the current Assembly and Protest Act, which operates in a license-application-based system, is a direct violation of the constitutional right to freedom of assembly. On these grounds, the Act and its related clauses should be invalidated within one year after this announcement. Immediately acting on this verdict in the same afternoon, the Taipei Police Bureau approved the current sit-in demonstrations for referendum and anti-CSSTA, declaring that the protests in the Legislative Yuan, the Presidential Palace and the surrounding areas are now legal with no time limit whatsoever.
More than forty university professors have come together to establish the “University of Democracy on Street-Corners”. They encourage students to participate in the civil movements on site, and more and more people are joining the sit-in protests surrounding the legislature. A group of university students started sticking post-it messages with wishes for Taiwan on the barbed-wire obstacles put up by the police. In the wet and cold weather, students also held up umbrellas for the police to show that they cared about those who were on duty. Members of the public who care about the campaign connected with the protestors via Internet, and some are also sending food and supplies to the protesting scenes. Many lawyers and doctors have stepped up to volunteer legal advice and medical services as well.
Attorney General is Convicted in First Trial
Apart from the external pressure coming from citizens galvanized by the Agreement, the government also faces additional internal problems. In the afternoon of March 21st, Attorney-General Huang Shih-Ming was found guilty of violating the Communication Security and Surveillance Act, due to his leakage of private information to both the President and the Head of the Executive Yuan in an investigation on the Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-Pyng.
The incident began when Huang tapped a conversation between Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-Pyng and DPP legislator Ko Chien-Ming on the 28th of June, 2013 and asserted that the two along with some other people were engaged in illegal lobbying. On June 31st 2013, Huang reported to President Ma Ying-Jeou about the conversations. On the following day, Ma made a call to request for another discussion with Huang in the presidential office. On September 4th, Huang informed Jiang Yi-Huah, Head of the Executive Yuan, and held a press conference on the 6th to unveil the incident. Huang was then prosecuted due to the information leaks, which violate the Security Surveillance Communications Act.
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