Huaguang Community residents stage protest

Several waves of demolitions using swarms of excavators and the enlistment of heavy police force has left Huaguang residents traumatized. Following the Ministry of Justice’s latest decision to proceed with a final wave of house demolitions, scheduled for August 27-29, the remaining residents had no other option but to immediately vacate the area and find new homes.

On the morning of August 27, residents marched alongside fifty selected student representatives carrying household items from previous demolitions (wooden doors, window frames, ladders and other furniture) to highlight the brutal community clearance that has taken place. On arrival at the Executive Yuan, students staged a drama depicting snails without shells, a symbol of the now homeless residents who have been forced to wander without homes.

Following the drama, pictures of President Ma Ying-jeou, Vice President Wu Den-Yih  and Premier Jiang Yi-huah , were accused of selling the nation’s land to financial consortiums, which aim to manipulate the property market and construct government-approved business zones for the building of exorbitantly priced luxury buildings, the cost of which are far beyond the scope of the average Taiwanese person.

The protest march terminated on Ketagalan Boulevard, where activists used the painstakingly carried household items to recreate a little piece of Huaguang, a place so loved and cherished by the residents.

Huaguang Community residents stage protest
URL:http://www.peopo.org/news/115643
URL:http://www.peopo.org/news/115590

(以下是中文對照)
華光社區居民苦行抗議

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８／２７到８／２９是台北市華光社區的最後一波強拆，經歷了前幾波的怪手、警力凌遲，社區已經是滿目瘡痍，僅存的現住戶在這三天慘遭強制騰空驅離。居民在27日早上，由學生訪調小組號召五十位民眾背著華光社區被拆除的斷垣殘，隨同居民苦行；在行政院前上演行動劇，學生背著蝸牛象徵遭迫遷的華光居民淪為無殻蝸牛，並在地上擺上馬英九總統、吳敦義副總統與江宜樺院長的大頭照，訴求國家把土地賣給財團圖利炒地，建設高級住宅；民眾根本買不起，批政府政商圈地，隨後遊行隊伍終點到凱道集合，並將斷垣苦行隊伍身上的家具重組，在凱道上重新搭建屬於華光社區居民充滿記憶的家。