AIRLINK 72.55 Increased By ▲ 3.35 (4.84%)
BOP 5.03 Increased By ▲ 0.13 (2.65%)
CNERGY 4.30 Increased By ▲ 0.04 (0.94%)
DFML 31.95 Increased By ▲ 0.70 (2.24%)
DGKC 80.40 Increased By ▲ 3.15 (4.08%)
FCCL 21.10 Increased By ▲ 1.10 (5.5%)
FFBL 34.78 Decreased By ▼ -0.22 (-0.63%)
FFL 9.35 Increased By ▲ 0.23 (2.52%)
GGL 9.85 Increased By ▲ 0.05 (0.51%)
HBL 113.65 Increased By ▲ 0.89 (0.79%)
HUBC 134.47 Increased By ▲ 1.43 (1.07%)
HUMNL 7.01 Increased By ▲ 0.06 (0.86%)
KEL 4.30 Increased By ▲ 0.07 (1.65%)
KOSM 4.39 Increased By ▲ 0.14 (3.29%)
MLCF 37.34 Increased By ▲ 0.74 (2.02%)
OGDC 134.64 Increased By ▲ 1.77 (1.33%)
PAEL 24.02 Increased By ▲ 1.38 (6.1%)
PIAA 24.80 Increased By ▲ 0.60 (2.48%)
PIBTL 6.55 Increased By ▲ 0.09 (1.39%)
PPL 119.81 Increased By ▲ 3.51 (3.02%)
PRL 26.52 Increased By ▲ 0.62 (2.39%)
PTC 13.27 Increased By ▲ 0.19 (1.45%)
SEARL 52.84 Increased By ▲ 0.84 (1.62%)
SNGP 71.20 Increased By ▲ 3.60 (5.33%)
SSGC 10.64 Increased By ▲ 0.10 (0.95%)
TELE 8.48 Increased By ▲ 0.20 (2.42%)
TPLP 11.15 Increased By ▲ 0.35 (3.24%)
TRG 60.15 Increased By ▲ 0.86 (1.45%)
UNITY 25.23 Increased By ▲ 0.10 (0.4%)
WTL 1.28 Increased By ▲ 0.01 (0.79%)
BR100 7,474 Increased By 65.6 (0.89%)
BR30 24,477 Increased By 440.6 (1.83%)
KSE100 71,361 Increased By 694.3 (0.98%)
KSE30 23,396 Increased By 171.7 (0.74%)

imageTAIPEI: Thousands of Taiwanese calling for peace and the rule of law rallied in Taipei Sunday to counter a recent series of demonstrations that turned violent and led to clashes with police.

Police estimated that about 1,500 people from the ruling Kuomintang party and their supporters rallied in the downtown area, ending up with a march to police headquarters.

Demonstrators voiced gratitude to police for maintaining peace in the demonstrations since March.

Police estimated 15,000 turned out for a separate gathering organised by the right-wing New Party, which is friendly to the Kuomintang.

Waving Taiwan flags, the crowd kicked off the event by singing the national anthem.

Chanting "Long Live the Republic of China" (Taiwan's official title), demonstrators fired salvos at Lin Fei-fan and Chen Wei-ting, the most prominent student leaders during the island's first-ever occupation of parliament starting on March 18.

"What is their contribution to the country? They acted wildly in defiance of the law," an angry Yok Mu-ming, chairman of the New Party, told the crowd.

Activist Wang Ping-chung labelled the pair as "fascists".

There has been a series of protests against a controversial services trade pact with China and a contentious nuclear power plant.

In the student-led demonstrations against the trade pact with China, protesters occupied parliament and also stormed the top government headquarters.

Opponents say the services deal would damage Taiwan's economy and leave it vulnerable to political pressure from China.

In late April an estimated 28,500 protesters blockaded a main street in the capital calling for the scrapping of a nearly completed nuclear power plant, prompting police to use water cannon to dislodge the demonstrators.

President Ma Ying-jeou has overseen a marked thaw in relations with Beijing since he came to power in 2008 pledging to strengthen trade and tourism links. He was re-elected in January 2012.

His party says the island needs the new nuclear plant to ensure electricity supplies, while opponents say it would be too dangerous in an earthquake-prone zone.

Comments

Comments are closed.