This morning, on a tip from a friend, I found myself at Songshan Airport in Taipei witnessing a protest by labour unions, who criticised both the Council of Labour Affairs and Japanese Airlines Corp for making 70 airline attendants redundant. This was an early protest planned to coincide with the arrival of direct flights from Haneda Airport in Japan and Songshan. The police were informed of the impending protest and restricted protest to outside the Terminal building, screening all people who wanted to go in (asking them if they had a ticket and where they were going). The protest started early and sparsely, as seen left below, then almost magically (this happens a lot in Taiwan) suddenly there was a good group of 30-40 people ready with vests and signs.
There were probably around 20-30 police also at the event, not including plainclothes and other airport security officials. Just like at the LGBT parade the day before, CID recorded the event for prosperity. These guys below were quite friendly. I asked the young officers on the right if they were videoing to build a database of faces. They explained that they were only junior officiers and couldn't say too much or talk too long because their boss might not be too pleased. Throughout the morning, these CID guys recorded pretty much everything.
The protest takes shape ...
Friendly but focused chaps.
The rear of the protest. There were speeches, chants and even two songs.
The police cordoned over the path but released the cordon each time the crowd moved 'forward' along the walkway, in front of the entrances to the terminal.
A senior officers overlooks the scene ...
... whilst protestors hold a press conference.
And the police watched on.
A weeping woman relates her angle on the reason for protest.
Not wanting to let the side down, the authorities delicately formed a neat two line move. Guys in front ...
... ladies at the back. One policewoman explained that they were there to 'manhandle' the female protestors, something we also saw in the Dapu land seizure case.
The guy on the right was very senior and his disdainful poker face stayed the same the whole morning.
There were probably 20-30 media personnel there to cover events and give interviews. Yours truly was interviewed by TTV. I told them that protest was perfectly normal in a democracy when alternative forms of negotiation or legal recourse had failed. I said that it is very important for people to trust that the law will be practiced and that it is applied consistently. Taiwan was a very normal democratic country. The interviewer then asked me if I thought the protests were inconveniencing travellers so I said 'no more than check in and handling your luggage'.
This woman's husband had been laid of after a lengthy term with the company just before he was about to retire and collect his pension. The Japanese company were accused of deliberately laying off workers just before they were to collect retirement payments and the CLA of failing to implement existing law that is designed to protect workers from this kind of 'austerity measure'.
The Green Party was represented at the event by Li Ying-hsuan, Taipei City Council candidate No. 6 for Neihu / Nangang. Her campaign platform has been built around labour issues.
The woman in blue and the man in the tracksuit behind her made impassioned speeches.
The crowd sat in for the speeches then later stood up and moved along.
The boys and girls in blue ever present and keeping an eye on things.
Look closely and you can see what looks like the edge of a kind of whiteboard on a pole next to the wall. That's the noticeboard the police use to announce enforcement of the Parade and Assembly Law. I asked a less friendly officer if they were going to use it and he said yes. When I asked if he knew that the law was a relic of the white terror and made in 1990 (my bad chinese - I wish I knew the term for 'early post-martial law period'), he brushed me off and walked over to the wall to prop the board up.
When everyone moved up the walkway, the rushing press snapping and shooting away whilst back-pedalling furiously made the event more exciting than it really was.
The protest came to a halt in front of some windows where signs were held high supposedly for visiting Japanese company VIPs to see. I left shortly after.
These very young officers were quite amused with me. I half joked with them not to beat anyone but make harmony together. Not a thing I would do in China or any other country but maybe my own. They laughed.
Finally, one criticism. I got chatting with an elderly visiting Japanese couple who both understood my poor Chinese, the husband of which had lived in Taiwan for five years some time previously. I explained that the current government was very China friendly and that I thought China was ramping up tensions over the Senkakus. I felt also had to apologise because the labour union march had at times a distinctly patriotic, if not outright xenophobic, atmosphere. Certain speeches raising the issue of Senkakus and songs that seemed to call for quite violent revenge featured which upset me, and to my knowledge also upset Candidate Li who used her speech to support the protest on principal of law whilst avoiding blaming nations for individual corporate behaviour. I reiterated to the Japanese couple how much Taiwan had welcomed me and how it welcomes Japanese friends too.
LINKS:
- Space Shuttle - An era of lost opportunities
- Legislators delay visit to Senkaku islands, for now.
- I think this was probably a good idea - US reversed policy and declares genes can't be patented.
