Radicals in Taiwan tear down Sun Yat-sen statue
Print Edition
A TAIWAN-based radical group said yesterday it was responsible for pulling down a statue of the founding father of the Republic of China.
The event was condemned by politicians and supporters of the ruling Kuomintang (KMT) party.
The bronze statue of Sun Yat-sen had stood for more than half a century at a park in the southern city of Tainan, until it was pulled down in a surprise raid on Saturday.
Members of the Alliance for Referendum to Safeguard Taiwan used a rope to topple the 600-kilogram statue, which was splashed with red paint and covered in signs reading: “ROC out, KMT down.”
The park has long been a flashpoint between radical groups and supporters of the Kuomintang party, who view Sun and fellow KMT leader Chiang Kai-shek with reverence but are loathed by radical “independence” groups.
“This action is to show our support for the victims of the February 28 Incident,” Tsai Ting-kui, head of the radical group, said.
Tsai was referring to a tragedy that took place in 1947, when riots erupted across the island after a KMT inspector beat a female vendor in Taipei for selling untaxed cigarettes.
Thousands were killed in the February 28 Incident, which remained taboo for decades under the rule of Chiang Kai-shek. He died in 1975 and February 28 was later made an official holiday. In 1998 a statue of Tang Teh-chang, one of thousands of people killed in the 1947 incident, was erected in the park.
Sun’s statue has been the target of many attacks. Last year it survived an attempt by the Tainan city government to remove it when dozens of Kuomintang supporters guarded it around the clock for weeks.
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