wfn.org | Stone Thrown at Taiwan Presbyterian Headquarters

["pctpress" <pctpress@ms1.hinet.net>]

Taiwan Church News 2717, 22 through 28 March 2004

Reported by: Lin Yi-ying.  Translated and Rewritten by David Alexander

Tensions ran high over the weekend as Taiwan!&s voters went to the polls in a
fiercely contested presidential election.  Two days prior to the vote the
Executive Committee of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in
Taiwan (PCT) made a formal endorsement of the candidates of the ruling
Democratic Progressive Party. On March 20th those candidates won the election
by less than 30,000 votes out of almost 13 million cast. The losing slate of
candidates filed protest motions and angry demonstrations ensued in many
places around Taiwan.  In Kaohsiung City a mob attempted to break through
gates and a police cordon surrounding a district courthouse.

On Monday morning, March 22, those who arrived first at the offices of the
General Assembly of the PCT found a stone inscribed with the words
!'justice!(
between the metal grating and the glass front doors of the building. The
stone!&s provenance is not known, but it seemed to be a hostile act.  The
employees called the local police station and filed a case report.  Apart
from
that, the General Assembly is adopting a low profile, and urges all to remain
calm and reasonable as the election results are sorted out.

According to Assembly staff, it seems that an unknown person who
misunderstood
the position of the PCT regarding politics may have been angry enough
following the election to attempt to break the glass doors with a stone.  The
doors are right on the street. The metal grate prevented the stone coming
through, so it appears the person who placed it manipulated it through the
openings, but was unable to put enough force behind it to harm the glass.

The General Assembly has typically been casual about security and expects
that, now that the election has passed, we cannot proceed to be enemies of
anyone.  Officers reiterated the appeal for calm, reason and obedience to the
law.

For more information: gs@mail.pct.org.tw

Taiwan Church News is published weekly in Taiwan's local languages.

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