Sunflower Student Movement
Student protests in Taipei over a controversial trade accord between China and
Taiwan turned suddenly violent Sunday night. Students stormed the Executive
Yuan, and several hours later, were evicted by riot police armed with water
cannons. Our Observer, who joined in the protests, says that students are
demanding increased government transparency.
The standoff began when the governing party, the Kuomintang or KMT,
attempted to skip normal legislative protocol to hammer through a
controversial trade agreement opening the small nation’s economy
to China. Hundreds of students, angered by the opaque nature of
the decision-making, took to the streets. Starting on March 18, they occupied
the Legislative Yuan, the national parliament building in Taipei.
Several days into the protests, neither the students nor President Ma Ying-Jeou
showed signs of backing down. At a press conference Saturday, the president
refused to reconsider the pact or to hold direct talks with the students. A meeting
between Prime Minister Jiang Yi-huah and Lin Fei-fan, a leader of the so-called
“Sunflower Student Movement,” was also unsuccessful.
Frustrated by the lack of recognition from the government, a group of students
broke off from those at the legislative sit-in and stormed the Executive Yuan
Sunday.
For the first time since the protests began, the government called in riot police,
who responded with force, using water cannons and batons. Since then,
social media has buzzed with tweets, Facebook posts, photos and videos
showing police trying to forcibly remove students from their sit-in
