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| Sunday, 20 March 2005 |
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Taiwan opposition rally against shooting TAIPEI, March 19 (AFP) - Taiwan opposition supporters took to the streets Saturday on the anniversary of the election eve shooting of President Chen Shui-bian to demand the "truth" about the incident, organizers said. The rally in the capital was also aimed at promoting peace across the Taiwan Strait after China adopted an anti-secession law Monday to deter the island from declaring independence, they said. In a warm-up for the afternoon rally, organizers held a candlelight vigil early Saturday with participants chanting "No Truth, No President." "We call for peace and democracy while seeking the truth (about Chen's shooting)," said Wang Jin-pyng, parliamentary speaker and a vice chairman of the main opposition Kuomintang party (KMT). "We also hope all parties involved would handle cross-strait issues with reason and wisdom so that the two sides can get along peacefully," he said. The shooting left Chen and his running mate Annette Lu slightly injured during a campaign trip the day before he won re-election by a razor thin majority on March 20 last year. Opposition supporters have accused Chen of staging the shooting, which occurred as the pair were campaigning in an open-top jeep in southern Tainan, to win a last-minute "sympathy vote." They were also unconvinced by police reports earlier this month, which identified an unemployed man as the gunman. Police said he committed suicide by drowning himself. According to a poll released by Era News channel late Friday, 52 percent of Taiwanese said they believed the shooting had something to do with "political factors." Some 44 percent of the 1,082 people surveyed said they were dissatisfied with the government's probe into the incident. Organizers of the rally predicted a turnout of 100,000, including KMT chairman Lien Chan, parliamentary speaker Wang and Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou. Lien lost the 2004 presidential election to Chen by a slim 0.22 percent margin. In the weeks following Chen's victory, hundreds of thousands of opposition supporters staged sometimes round-the-clock demonstrations against the election result in Taipei. The KMT is also appealing against a High Court decision to reject two
opposition lawsuits challenging Chen's legitimacy. |
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