http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/afp_asiapacific/view/229453/1/.html
TAIPEI : Some 200,000 people protested in the streets here Saturday
to demand the resignation of President Chen Shui-bian and an end to
months of corruption scandals that have left Taiwan in
turmoil.
Demonstrators, most wearing red to express their anger, gave the
thumbs-down sign as they marched through downtown Taipei, yelling
the embattled president's nickname as they chanted "Ah-Bian, step
down!" and "Ah-Bian sucks".
"Today is a historic moment as not only all the people in Taiwan
but also people from elsewhere in the world are witnessing this
event," said veteran pro-democracy campaigner and protest organiser
Shih Ming-teh.
"What the country really needs is a leader who can do something
good for the people rather than one who hides in the presidential
office despite so many corruption cases," said Shih, a former ally
of the embattled president.
Shih, who once served as head of Chen's Democratic Progressive
Party (DPP), has collected more than one million signatures in a
petition to force him out and vowed a round-the-clock sit-in
outside Chen's office until he resigns.
"Our protest will never cease as long as he continues to stay in
office," Shih said.
On the eve of the rally, Shih said he was expecting 300,000 people
to throng the streets of Taipei.
Organisers on Saturday put turnout at some 200,000, while police
declined to provide attendance figures.
"Ah-Bian has failed to give a convincing explanation regarding the
several corruption cases," said one demonstrator, Chou Yi-chu, on
hand as the rally was beginning with his wife and three-month-old
daughter.
"People live a harder life than before" Chen came to power in 2000,
Chou said. "In order to give a new hope for our children, he must
step down."
Taipei teacher Huang Pei-fang told AFP: "As a teacher, I want my
students to tell right from wrong, and Chen would set an example if
he steps down."
But despite the huge rally, Chen - who has repeatedly denied all
wrongdoing and vowed to finish out his term - refused to bow to the
pressure.
"I was elected by the people...Asking me to step down without a
justifiable reason is against the principles of democracy," Chen
told hundreds of supporters in southern Tainan county, a
traditional DPP stronghold.
The Taiwan leader's troubles started in May after his son-in-law
Chao Chien-ming was detained and later indicted on suspicion of
insider trading and taking bribes. Chen has publicly apologised for
Chao's actions.
Prosecutors then began looking at whether Chen had misused funds
intended for national affairs, and questioned him last month.
Reports in the Taiwanese media have alleged that prosecutors found
only half of the funds for which Chen's office had declared
receipts and suspected that some of the money might have been used
illegally.
In June, he survived an unprecedented vote in parliament to push
him out of office, which failed to receive the backing of
two-thirds of all lawmakers.
If passed, it would have triggered a national referendum on Chen's
future.
His wife Wu Shu-chen is under investigation for allegedly accepting
department store gift certificates in exchange for lobbying
efforts.
But despite a petition signed by more than one million people and
100 million Taiwan dollars (three million US) in financial backing,
Shih's campaign is not expected to push the embattled leader from
office, analysts say.
Organisers had feared that torrential rains would lessen the impact
of Saturday's rally and drive down turnout, but a hot sun beat down
on Taipei as protesters flooded the streets.
Up to 4,600 riot police were on hand to prevent any violence and
some 600 barbed-wire barricades were set up, according to Wang
Yung-hui, deputy chief of the Taipei police department.
On Friday some 2,000 Chen supporters, joined by DPP chairman Yu
Shyi-kun, rallied outside his office while several pro-Chen rallies
were held in southern Taiwan ahead of Saturday's protest.
Taiwan, which split from mainland China in 1949 and is regarded by
Beijing as a renegade province, had been governed exclusively for
more than half a century by the nationalist Kuomintang (KMT) until
Chen was elected in 2000.
The independence-minded leader narrowly won re-election in 2004 for
a second and final term. - AFP/ch
