Disguised student caught on Wild Strawberry protest site

A guy disguised as a student infiltrated to the Wild Strawberry Movement (WSM) camp and stole a laptop that students use to operate their movement:

At about 9 am on 13 December, a student surnamed Lai found their notebook computer was missing. Workers of the Wild Strawberry Movement, after obtaining the agreement of everyone present, began to check through the personal belongings at the site. They then found the student Lai's computer under the jacket of a man claiming to be a student from Fu Jen University's Chinese Department.

Because of the principle of presumption of innocence, students of the Wild Strawberry Movement first asked the man to explain why he had student Lai's computer. However, his words stuttered and he was unable to give a reasonable explanation. Therefore at approximately 9:30 am on the same day, the students of the Wild Strawberry Movement sought the assistance of a police officer at the site. They reported the incident to the police. When the police checked the man's ID it was discovered that the information he had given to the Wild Strawberry Movement was false. Furthermore, he was not a student in Fu Jen University's Chinese Department.

(see http://taiwanstudentmovement2008.blogspot.com/2008/12/1213.html)

This reminds me of another report.

The WSM insists 3 appeals: 1. President Ma and Premier Liu apologize; 2. Chiefs of National Police Agency and of National Security Bureau, Wang and Tsai, step down; 3. Amend The Parade and Assembly Law.

On Nov. 15th, 9 days into WSM's month long protest, Ma government tried to make students scale down their protest by dropping the first two appeals.

Besides asking teachers of those students to participate in the persuasion, the Ma's party, KMT, also did this:

國民黨青年團也「派員」參與學運，希望「鎖定議題」，只談「修法」，並對外釋出「下台和道歉」較難達到，只談修法的訊息。

KMT's Youth League also "sent member(s)" to participate the WSM. Hoping to "scale down the focus" to only the 3rd appeal, they spread words that it's much harder to achieve the goals of "apology" and "resign", so it's better to focus on the "law amending".

Will the world be watching?

Let's see what Mr. Ma is made of


At 12 noon on Sunday, December 7, 2008, starting from Taipei, Taiwan's Liberty Square (自由廣場), the student movement known as the Wild StrawBerries are planning a peaceful march to reiterate the following most-reasonable demands [edited for formatting, clarity, spelling, and completeness]:

1. President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) and Premier Liu Chao-shiuan (劉兆玄) must publicly apologize to all citizens [for creating the situation which allowed the police to treat protesters the way they did during Chen Yunlin's (陳雲林) visit to Taiwan].

2. National Police Agency (NPA) Director-General Wang Cho-chiun (王卓鈞) and National Security Bureau Director Tsai Chao-ming (蔡朝明) must step down [to take responsibility for the police brutality that occurred as a result of the massive police presence].

3. The Legislative Yuan (行政院) must revise the Parade and Assembly Law (集會遊行法), which currently restricts the rights of the people [and which are set to become even more repressive early in 2009]. [This is basically a simple demand for ""Freedom of Assembly."]

Anyone who agrees to wear black, to refrain from displaying any partisan slogans, and to refrain being violent is welcome to attend this protest. Since permission to hold this protest was denied the group hasn't even applied for permission (but have instead voluntarily reported the activity to police, in line with how they want the Parade and Assembly Law [集會遊行法] to be modified), it will therefore be an act of civil disobedience.

Even if you don't attend, please sign the Wild StrawBerries' online petition if you want democracy in Taiwan to remain within reach. It has already slipped way too far backward since the Ma administration took office on May 20, 2008.

Who else has got their backs?
The Ma government has come under heavy criticism from many international human rights groups, including Amnesty International, Freedom House, Human Rights Watch, the International Federation for Human Rights, Reporters Without Borders, and others. Protests will also be taking place in Tokyo and Paris on Sunday in support of the Wild StrawBerries. Please support them any way you can.



RELATED LINKS:
* Watch the Wild StrawBerries practicing peaceful resistance (live on Justin.tv)

* The Wild StrawBerries' English blog

* The Wild StrawBerries' (野草莓運動) Mandarin blog

* A post by David Reid with images, links, and more details

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Ingredients: Taiwan, 台灣, Wild StrawBerries Movement, 野草莓學運, protest, 抗議, human rights, 人權

Cross-posted at It's Not Democracy, It's A Conspiracy!