Agreement between government and residents over expropriated Miaoli land
Taipei (AsiaNews)
- After two days of protests an agreement was reached between the government
and about 10 thousand people gathered in front of the presidential office from
the evening of August 18 to protest against the destruction of the houses of
the village of Dapu (大埔) in the province of
Miaoli (苗栗), on
the northwest coast of Taiwan. The
crowd called for the correction of the Land Expropriation Act (土地 征收 条例) and greater protection of the rights of the small
farmers.
During
the first night of protests, the Interior Ministry held a press conference in
defense of the law by pointing out that last year amendments demanded by civil
rights activists and affiliated groups to safeguard the rights of the owners of
farmland were accepted.
The
next morning, August 19, Interior Minister Lee Hong-yuan (李鸿源) called
his cabinet to discuss the various requests. At
the end of the morning, when there were still about 2 thousand people in front
of the ministry, the Deputy Minister Hsiao Chia-chi (萧家淇) came out to explain the problems
remained on the table. On
admitting to "technical problems" yet to be discussed with other relevant partners,
the Deputy Minister was greeted with buckets of water and the crowd demanded to
speak to the minister in person.
Apart
from this episode, the rally was entirely peaceful, gathering farmers, students
and civil rights activists. The
protest (called "818" for the date chosen) was planned to coincide
with the one month anniversary of 18th July, when the bulldozers razed the
houses of four families in the area of Dapu. The
demolitions and expropriations are part of the expansion of the Chunan Technology
Park (竹南 科学 园区), which should have a very significant positive
impact on the economic development in the region.
The
four demands put forward by the protesters are: amendments to the current
regulations for the acquisition of agricultural land, the restitution of
agricultural land expropriated from families in Dapu, an apology from the
government for the demolition of the houses, an investigation into the conduct
of the provincial government of Miaoli as chiefly responsible for the decisions
taken.
The
interior minister said that 98% of the 900 landowners in the area have accepted
the draft expropriation and received the appropriate cash compensation, while
24 families have asked to keep their properties. Of
these, after a final change in the project coordinated by the Provincial Council,
20 families were able to stay in their homes and have new land, while four
groups have seen their homes demolished due to security issues in the design of
the new area of the technology park.
This
is the second incident between the provincial government and the villagers of
Dapu. On June 9, 2010 in a dawn raid bulldozers destroyed much of the wheat
harvest just a week before the harvest was due. Now
the organizers intend to listen to new solutions promised by the Ministry of
the Interior for the solution of "technical problems" cited by the
deputy minister and possibly organize new demonstrations in Taipei and in
Miaoli so as not to abandon the families of farmers who did not accept the proposed
move.
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09/05/2011
19/07/2005
