Partisan crowds with vastly differing views of Kuomintang Chairman Lien Chan's (hahaha36899;?) trip to China clashed with each other and with police at CKS International Airport yesterday morning, leaving nine people seriously wounded.
Both the pan-blue New Party, which supports the trip, and the pan-green Taiwan Solidarity Union, which believes Lien is betraying Taiwan, had mobilized their supporters in recent days to gather at the airport, but urged them not to bring any dangerous items.
The warnings were ignored. People on both sides smuggled metal sticks, wooden clubs, several cartons of eggs, firecrackers, stones, large machetes, and slingshots past police, who were lax in keeping the departure hall of the airport's second terminal under control.
The violence seemed to be set off when Wang Shih-chien, a Democratic Progressive Party legislator who ignored party pleas to stay away, led hundreds of supporters into the departure hall at around 9 a.m., where policeman were already on guard. He urged his followers over a loudspeaker to toss their eggs at the pan-blue people.
Shortly after they entered, about a dozen young hooligans wearing T-shirts with the colors of the national flag ran toward gathered pan-green supporters and began beating them, causing scuffles that the police were unable to control.
During the demonstration, fights burst out in the hall, often initiated by the thugs who used hit-and-run tactics to attack middle-aged pan-green supporters.
At around 9:38 a.m., the two sides showered each other with large numbers of eggs and mineral water containers, even as regular passengers were trying to check in for their scheduled flights.
Less than an hour later, some of the green followers set off firecrackers in the hall, even throwing them at reporters and photographers. One landed on the head of a Taiwan News photographer.
Clashes also broke out outside the terminal, as masses of people pushed toward the departure hall's entrance. One pan-blue supporter mistakenly hit one of his comrades in the forehead with a small stone.
It was not supposed to happen that way. Police had set aside separate areas in the parking lot and at opposite ends of the second terminal's departure hall for supporters of either side to gather.
TSU supporters assembled in the parking lot before 7 a.m., singing Taiwanese songs and shouting slogans. DPP legislators began appearing at around 8 a.m.
With Lien's flight scheduled to take off at 10:30 a.m., demonstrators had hoped to confront the KMT chairman either in the departure hall or at the entrance to the VIP gate, which is where Lien eventually gained access to the terminal without incident.
The debacle reflected poorly on an overmatched police presence.
Chen Jei-tien, chief of the Aviation Police Bureau, acknowledged that his agency had ignored the interests of the airport's passengers and did a poor job of searching those entering the hall for dangerous objects.
"I'm sorry for my flawed management of this incident, and I will review all related security arrangements," Chen said yesterday.
"We will review the videotape and quickly arrest those who participated in the clashes," he promised.
During the chaos, police seemed reluctant to prevent outbreaks of violence, only using their shields to keep demonstrators from the two sides separated. Complicating matters, of the more than 1,000 officers patrolling the area, some 60 percent were said to be youngsters performing their civil military service without any experience in crowd or riot control.
At around 10:42 a.m., a few hooligans attacked an old pan-green supporter in his sixties with a Nunchaku, the martial arts weapon composed of two sticks connected by a rope or chain. He was left battered and bleeding, lying face down on the floor.
Others were also attacked by the group of thugs, and in all, nine people were hospitalized after the demonstration ended.
Much of the fighting came under the watchful eye of police on duty, who remained in a line formation waiting for orders from their superiors. Only after the fighting stopped did police move closer to the scene, failing to arrest any of the assailants who walked away in full view.
While Lien avoided the demonstrators at the airport, his trip there was marred by protesters who first showed up at his house and then tried to block his way on the highway. The police had to mobilize nine cars to direct traffic around a group of taxis that had stopped on highway lanes and then closed within inches of the side of Lien's van to display angry banners.
At the end of the demonstration, New Party leader Yok Mu-ming (hahaha37057;hahaha24917;hahaha26126;) "declared war" on the TSU for the fracas in the hall, even though the DPP's Wang seemed to have a far large role in initiating the conflict.
The TSU declined to comment on whether it would "welcome" Lien's return from China on May 3.
http://www.etaiwannews.com/Taiwan/Po...1114564824.htm
