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Student protesters next to an anti-China banner listen to a speech inside parliament on Thursday, which they have occupied to protest a trade deal with the mainland. Photo: AFP
As the protest entered its third day, Taiwanese legislative speaker Wang Jin-pyng has called for a peaceful resolution of a student occupation of the island's parliament, triggered by the ruling party's handling of a trade deal with the mainland.
Police tried three times to remove about 200 demonstrators who have barred the main chamber's exits with chairs and other furniture after they burst in on Tuesday evening.
Students on block an entrance to Taiwan's parliament with sofas and chairs on Thursday. Photo: EPA
Four protesters were arrested and 38 officers injured as authorities' sought to regain control.
"The confrontation must be resolved in a peaceful manner and the protesters not be harmed," Wang said yesterday.
Police said about 2,250 people had gathered outside the legislature in a show of solidarity with the students by last night, Central News Agency reported.
Hundreds of students and professors hold a sit-in outside parliament on Thursday as police guard the perimeter. Photo: AFP
Shouting "Police back off," and "No selling out Taiwan to China", the students are protesting over the Kuomintang's push for a controversial cross-strait service trade pact.
The deal was signed in June last year as a follow-up to the Economic Co-operation Framework Agreement inked in 2010 by Taiwan and the mainland to open up each other's markets.
On Monday, KMT legislators cut short a bipartisan discussion of the deal. They are seeking to put it to a floor review, and ultimately a vote in the Legislative Yuan, where they enjoy a majority, before the term ends in July.
Video: Taiwan students protest China trade pact in parliament
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The KMT said the pact would go to a floor review as a single item, and not "article by article", as they had earlier agreed to do with the main opposition Democratic Progressive Party.
Student protesters gather on the floor of parliament on Thursday as the demonstration entered its third day. Photo: AP
The students vowed to stay until tomorrow, when debate is due to begin. "We want Ma to apologise, [Premier] Jiang Yi-huah to resign and the legislature return the agreement [to cabinet]," said Huang Yu-fang, a spokeswoman of the Black Island Nation Youth Alliance.
Wang's plea for restraint came as a court ruled in favour of his lawsuit against the KMT's chairman, Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou, who sought to strip him of his party membership, and his title as speaker. The ruling could help Wang maintain a neutral position in discussions over the trade pact.
Beijing has repeatedly asked Taiwan to swiftly pass the deal.
DPP chairman Su Tseng-chang called on all party officials and supporters to gather at the legislature to force the KMT to review the pact item by item.
Chen Ting-wei, a student activist from National Tsinghua University, said that if the KMT refused to review the agreement as it originally said, "we will urge more people to storm the legislature".
Wang's neutral stance has reportedly upset Ma, who in September accused him of influence-peddling. Wang later filed a court injunction to temporarily freeze the KMT action.
The Taipei District Court sided with Wang yesterday, and the KMT said it would review the decision before deciding whether to appeal.
Protesters inside the parliament building today. Student leaders were angered by the government's refusal to heed their demands. Photo: AFP
Hundreds of students occupying Taiwan’s legislature to protest against a trade service pact with the mainland today vowed to continue their protest after the authorities ignored a noon deadline to meet their demands.
“We cannot accept such an attitude and will fight to the very end until our demands are met,” said Lin Fei-fan, a leader of the students’ protest.
Lin said the demonstrators would hold a meeting to discuss their next step, including plans to stage a long-term protest. They are due to announce their decision later today.
The students fear the trade pact with the mainland will lead to the loss of jobs in Taiwan and that closer ties with Beijing will put democracy under threat on the island.
They began their occupation of the parliament building on Tuesday.
The students issued an ultimatum on Thursday to President Ma Ying-jeou and legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng to meet their demands by noon today or face increased protests.
The demands include stopping the review of the trade pact in the legislature, passing a bill in the current session of the island’s parliament to oversee all agreements signed by Taipei and Beijing, and not to negotiate or sign any further agreements until the legislation is approved.
Students have barricaded themselves in parts of the building. They fear the trade pact will lead to job losses in Taiwan. Photo: AFP
The protest, which has attracted more than 3,000 demonstrators inside and outside the chamber, has so far remained largely peaceful.
President Ma asked Wang for a meeting this morning to try to discuss the issue, but Wang refused saying the protest was the result of conflict between the government and opposition parties.
A lawmaker with the governing Kuomintang, Chang Ching-chung, who had led a joint committee meeting on how to carry out a line-by-line review of the pact, abruptly announced on Monday that the pact would be sent to the legislative floor in its entirety.
The move triggered angry protests by legislators from the opposition Democratic Progressive Party, which thought it had a deal with the KMT for an itemised review.
Students subsequently invaded the Legislative Yuan to protest against what they said was a “shameless” reversal by the KMT.
Demonstrators stormed into the parliament building on Tuesday. Photo: AFP
About 30,000 protesters, mobilised by the Democratic Progressive Party, yesterday joined the students in their protest outside the legislature.
The students' leaders said they were concerned the involvement of the opposition could change the nature of their protest.
“This is a protest staged by students, not by politicians, and we don’t want others to confuse the purpose,” said one student.
Many of the opposition party supporters wore shirts bearing the name of candidates contesting local government elections later this year.
The trade pact would allow Taiwan and the mainland to invest more freely in each other’s service sectors, but it still needs to be ratified by parliament.
President Ma has tried to foster closer ties with Beijing after decades of distrust between the two former adversaries.
Nationalist forces fled to Taiwan in 1949 after their defeat in the civil war on the mainland.
