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"Pay close attention to that man behind the curtain!"

Wednesday, March 31, 2004

Have you ever seen an earthworm count backwards from ten?

In the print edition of today's Chinese-language Liberty Times, there's a clear picture of PFP legislator Chiu Yi (AKA "earthworm") in the early morning hours of the day after Taiwan's presidential election, standing atop the campaign truck that was being used to crash the gate in front of Kaohsiung's prosecutor's office while police stood immediately on the opposite side of the gate. The picture is unfortunately not available in the online edition, but the Chinese-language article which appears beneath the photo in the print edition is.

According to this article, Kaohsiung police chief Hsieh Hsu-nen was called to the scene in the wee hours of March 21 after officers on the scene had reported the situation as having gotten out of control. At the same press conference described in my previous post, Hsieh said he clearly witnessed Chiu atop the truck "loudly counting down '10, 9, 8, 7, 6... charge!'" as it repeatedly crashed into the gate. He also reminded reporters that eight officers were injured during this incident. Hsieh was in possession of video taken at the scene which will be used as evidence in court, but didn't show the footage at the press conference.

Chiu is being charged with treason as a result of his involvement in this riot, and claimed at the press conference that he "was trying to calm the people, not incite them." I watched the riot on live TV as it developed, and even from that vantage point, it caused my heart to skip a beat.

An English-language article describing some of the same events can be found in today's Taipei Times.
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