Seems that Chinese love crowds. Mainlanders just had another National Day holiday with floods of people traveling across the country, now there is a second protest in Taiwan calling for the resignation of Chen Shui-bian. From BBC News:
Hundreds of thousands of demonstrators have been surrounding the presidential office in Taiwan, calling on President Chen Shui-bian to step down.
About 5,000 police were on duty but the protests were largely peaceful. [Full Text]
– Also Taipei Times’ Editorial: A day of national embarrassment, which argues against the protest playing into the hands of the Mainland government:
Technorati Tags: Chen recall protests, Chen Shui-bian
By making a mockery of the National Day celebrations, the Shih campaign is playing directly into the hands of the Chinese Communist Party and its plans to eradicate Taiwan in the international arena — many foreign VIPs and guests canceled their attendance at the celebrations in fear of what might happen. Yesterday’s skylarking will further motivate the pan-blue camp to block reform and sow discord within the legislature while blaming the president, when in fact the legislature’s problems have little to do with him and much more to do with contempt for the political system as a whole.
– And Taipei Times’ Beyond blue and green? You’ve got to be joking, that disputes the agenda of protesters who detest Chen’s corruption:
In essence, therefore, it is still about blue versus green, the old power versus the reformers, unification versus independence. But this time, they’ve lined up three different armies for the attack.
The first wave is Shih’s “red army,” the second wave is the KMT and waiting behind both is the Chinese Communist Party. They’ve come together under the pretext of toppling Chen, but it’s just another attack on the pan-green camp and a democratically elected and pro-localization regime.
