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Taiwan Protest Violence Targets Police

Posted on: Saturday, 10 April 2004, 06:00 CDT

TAIPEI, Taiwan - Protesters demanding to know whether last month's shooting of Taiwan President Chen Shui-bian was an election ploy attacked riot police with metal rods Saturday and vandalized a police station before being knocked back by water cannons.

The violence erupted shortly after about 50,000 people gathered in front of the Presidential Office for a three-hour protest calling for an independent task force to investigate the unexplained shooting that wounded Chen and his vice president one day before the March 20 vote.

Many protesters believed the shooting helped swing crucial sympathy votes to Chen, giving him a victory margin of less than 1 percent. The losing candidate, Lien Chan of the Nationalist Party, challenged the vote.

"The shooting happened three weeks ago, but still the president has not made an effort to find a solution," said protester Carson Huang, a 46-year-old civil servant. "We need the voice of the people to force the president to come up with an explanation."

So far, police have no suspects or solid leads.

After the protest ended, about 1,000 demonstrators lingered at the scene and began taunting and throwing bottles and rocks at police lined up on the other side of a barricade wrapped in barb wire. Some tossed metal sheets on top of the structure and threatened to storm the Presidential Office.

When the mob dismantled a stage and threw scaffolding on the barricade, police shot them with water cannons mounted on riot trucks. The crowd refused to move and some sang marching songs, blasted air horns and slipped on disposable plastic rain ponchos.

Some protesters charged the police, striking their riot shields with metal rods, flag poles and umbrellas. The police pushed the protesters back.

A group of protesters attacked a nearby police station, throwing rocks through windows and ripping an electrical box from the side of the building.

The crowd calmed down at the urging of high-ranking Nationalist Party official Lin Fong-cheng. He accused the ruling party of infiltrating the crowd and starting the violence to sully the opposition's reputation.

The allegation drew a quick, angry reaction from Lee Ying-yuan, a senior official in the president's Democratic Progressive Party.

"We demand that Lin Fong-cheng take back what he said by Monday. Otherwise, we'll go to court and file a lawsuit against the Nationalist Party," Lee said.

The demonstration has become a weekend tradition since Chen won the vote. A similar rally was held last Saturday, and police had to drag away protesters Sunday after they tried to camp out in front of the Presidential Office.

On Saturday, a prominent Taiwanese-American forensics expert reconstructed the scene of the March 19 shooting of Chen and Vice President Annette Lu as they campaigned in the southern city of Tainan. The gunshots grazed Chen's stomach and hit Lu in the knee.

Henry Lee, who previously worked on the O.J. Simpson murder trial, spent four hours analyzing the shooting scene in Tainan, using beams of green light to trace the bullets' possible trajectory.

Lee said the bullets "absolutely" came from outside the president's vehicle, but added there was not enough information to determine where the shooter was standing.

Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou, of the opposition Nationalist Party, addressed the crowd gathered in front of the Presidential Office.

Ma said Lee was only helping to analyze evidence and reconstruct the crime scene. The forensics expert would not be able to answer the biggest questions, Ma said.

"Who's the shooter? How did he operate? How much did the shooting affect the election? He can't help much with this," Ma said.

Lien, the losing presidential candidate, has already filed two petitions in the High Court. One asks for a recount and the other requests a new election.

Lien tried to whip up the crowd at the end of the three-hour rally, warning the president: "Don't underestimate us."

He accused Chen of acting like a dictator by not granting his demand for a special shooting commission.

"The democratic system in Taiwan is bleeding now," he said.

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