Taipei - Five Taiwanese journalists were injured when a man
rammed his truck into a group of TV reporters Thursday during a
demonstration over the renaming of a memorial to late nationalist
leader Chiang Kai-shek.
Wang Jui-chang of the cable news network ETTV was in critical
condition after being crushed under the vehicle.
'The journalist has bone factures in several places, internal
bleeding, liver and lung injuries, and serious concussion,' said a
doctor at the National Taiwan University Hospital. Other injured
reporters were released from hospital after treatment.
The driver, identified as Peng Sheng-lin, rammed his truck into a
crowd rallying in front of the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall to
support the demolition of two plaques erected to commemorate the late
leader. A rival crowd was nearby protesting against the demolition.
'I thought they wanted to rob me. I just passed by and they
blocked my way. I was on my way to work,' Peng claimed after he
was pulled from the truck, whose windshield was smashed by the
angry crowd.
Police arrested Peng on charges of attempted manslaughter.
The incident highlighted the political standoff between the Taipei
city government headed by opposition Nationalist Party mayor Hau
Lung-pin, and the central government headed by Chen's
pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party.
Chen decided to rename the memorial and tear down the plaques
because he said it was unnecessary to 'continue to treat a dictator
and a persecutor of human rights as a deity or a feudalist emperor
and worship him.'
The president has long endeavoured to cut all ties to China and
erase the legacy of Chiang, whose followers support Taiwan's eventual
unification with China.
Chiang fled to Taiwan after losing the Chinese Civil War to the
Communists in 1949 and ruled Taiwan with an iron fist until he died
of illness in 1975.
© 2007 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur 
USA
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