On March 18th, students protesting the KMT’s Cross-Strait Service Trade Agreementoccupied Taiwan’s Legislative Yuan [aka "parliament" or "legislature"]. Students are concerned about the lack of transparency and secrecy surrounding the cross-strait pact, as well the effect expanded trade ties with Mainland China would have on Taiwan’s economy.
News about the student sit-in at the Legislative Yuan’s main assembly hall has been the top trending topic on Taiwan’s Yahoo News site.
As news about the student sit-in first broke, Taiwanese netizens had mixed reactions to students crashing the Legislative Yuan’s main assembly hall. While there were general calls of support and praise by Taiwanese who fear the cross-strait pact will hurt Taiwan’s economy and democracy, there were also concerns that the protest was being used by pro-DPP forces, and that students were too young to understand Taiwan and China’s economic relationship.
As the student occupation of the Legislative Yuan stretches into its first full week, student leaders of the protest have demanded to meet with President Ma Ying-jeou, make the details of the Cross-Strait Service Trade Agreement known to the public, and revise some of the content of the cross-strait pact.
From Apple Daily Taiwan:
Cross-Strait Service and Trade Pact Protests: Students Crash the Legislative Yuan, Occupy Assembly Hall
In protest of the KMT assembly intensifying their push for the Cross-strait Service and Trade Pact (CSSTP) to be be passed into law, hundreds of students separately charged and broke through the main entrance and the Jinan Road side entrance of the Legislative Yuan. Students then made a beeline for the assembly hall, where they then sat on the floor in protest. Because security were caught off guard, the students even burst into the assembly hall’s inner chambers, where they began throwing objects from within and smashed glass, causing considerable chaos at the scene. By approximately 9:30pm, the assembly hall had been stormed, the assembly platform occupied, and protest banners unfurled on the platform and from the second floor of the assembly hall.
To prevent the police from removing them, students used chairs to seal the entrance to the assembly hall, fortifying their position, preventing police from entering the hall. At 9:55pm, they engaged in a clash of pushing and shoving with the police, and even splashed water at the police, with students shouting “give the assembly hall back to the people!”
Hundreds of students breached and occupied the Legislative Yuan assembly hall.
Students climbed over the fence of the Legislative Yuan, crashing the assembly hall.
The Legislative Yuan’s speaker’s podium was also overturned by the students.
Security stationed at the Legislative Yuan were caught off-guard; the assembly hall was breached, then occupied by the students.
Security stationed at the Legislative Yuan were caught off-guard; the assembly hall was breached, then occupied by the students.
Security at the Legislative Yuan were overwhelmed, the assembly hall breached by the students.
Students invaded the assembly hall, tussled with Legislative Yuan security guards.
The Legislative Yuan assembly hall was invaded and occupied by the students.
Students used chairs to block off the assembly hall doors.
Students breach and occupy the assembly hall.
During the conflict, some students sustained injuries, and fell to the ground.
The attack upon and occupation of the assembly hall is unprecedented in the Legislative Yuan’s history.
Students occupying the assembly hall quarrel with security at the entrance.
Students use chairs from the assembly hall to block off the entrance.
Students and security push, shove, and quarrel with each other; one student caught in between sustained injuries. (Zhao Yuanbin, Zhang Liangyi, Hang Dapeng / reporting from Taipei)
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