Organizers of the annual “Autumn Struggle” protests said Thursday that they will walk from Pingtung to Taiwan’s Presidential Office in Taipei over a one-month period to highlight their opposition to “ractopamine pork, double standards and one-party rule.”
The march’s convener Huang Te-pei (???) said they were hoping to drum up support for a “yes” vote in two out of the four national referendums scheduled for Dec. 18.
One of the referendums calls for a ban on pork imports containing traces of the drug ractopamine, while the other seeks to block the building of a liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal on the Datan Algal Reef near Taoyuan.
“During the walk we hope to talk with various civil organizations and groups in the hope of gathering support for voicing out on Dec. 18 that we are not happy,” Huang said at a press conference in Taipei.
Lin Tzu-wen (???), one of the leaders of the group, said they would start the walk from Pingtung on Saturday and were aiming to reach Yunlin in 12 days.
The marchers plan to make their way through 13 cities and counties before congregating on Ketagalan Boulevard in Taipei on Dec. 12.
During that period, they will also hold talks in front of train stations, temples and other public places at 7:30 a.m. each morning as they progress on their walk, Lin said.
People are welcome to listen to the talks or join them on their route to learn more about the issues they are advocating for, Lin said.
Environmentalist Pan Chong-cheng (???), who initiated the referendum seeking to block the building of Taiwan’s third LNG terminal at its current proposed site, said he was very touched the organizers were willing to support reef protection.
“They are willing to spend a whole month walking from the bottom to the top of Taiwan to promote the referendum on the protection of algae reefs and ractopamine pork,” Pan said. “I hope in our united efforts, we can protect the algae reefs and be successful in banning ractopamine pork.”
Su Wei-shuo (???), a clinical psychologist who attended last year’s protests and who will participate again this year, said none of the demands regarding banning ractopamine pork and fighting against double standards and one-party rule had been met.
According to organizers, the protests last year saw over 50,000 people backed by 42 labor groups march from Ketagalan Boulevard in front of the Presidential Office building in Taipei to the headquarters of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party on the city’s Beiping East Road.
The annual “Autumn Struggle” is one of Taiwan’s oldest domestic labor demonstrations, and regularly challenges the government to improve labor rights in the country.
However, some were unhappy about the opposition Kuomintang’s (KMT) apparent takeover of the event last year, with organizers requesting that the party’s legislators and city and country government heads wear black and not display party regalia.
Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel