Good afternoon everyone, thank you for coming today.
We are here today to support the protesters in Taiwan and defend the democracy of our lovely home country. For those who are not from Taiwan, whether you’re here because you care about this lovely island, because you share our anger about state violence, or because you can really relate to our concerns about a free trade agreement, we thank you for coming here today.
Taiwan is undergoing a huge democracy crisis right now. Our government signed the service trade agreement with China. This trade pact was negotiated without public input, and it was passed without due process.
To protest against this controversial legislation process, people in Taiwan, mostly young students, have been occupying the main chamber of the parliament for 12 days. Tens of thousands of people have participated in a peaceful sit-in.
On March 23, some protesters occupied the executive building. They were evicted brutally. The riot police beat these unarmed students and citizens with batons and shields. The police used high-pressure water cannons at these people. Many protesters were injured and arrested.
The scene was heartbreaking. I read on Facebook about people’s first-hand accounts of being dragged and threw on the ground, circled by a bunch of police officers, and having punches throwing at them, and being kicked in the stomach. I watched on YouTube where a doctor in a peaceful sit-in was beaten by police batons in his head again and again until he passed out. I could not believe this level of police brutality happened at this peaceful protest, that it happened in my beloved country, Taiwan.
So, today, we gather here, to fight for the democracy of Taiwan. We condemn state violence, and we demand that the Government of Taiwan refrain from the use of police brutality or the army at protesters. We demand that the parliament pass a legislation of a oversight mechanism about cross-strait agreements. And we demand that civic groups, students and the general public be included in policy making process.
Today, we stand up for our friends and family who have been protesting in Taiwan to fight for our democracy. We are not alone. There are protests and events like this in 49 cities among 17 countries around the world. It’s happening here in Pittsburgh, in New York, Toronto, Paris, London, Milan, Berlin, Tokyo and many other cities.
And Pittsburgh, we need your support. We need you to send a message to the Government of Taiwan that the world is watching. We will not tolerate such state violence. We will not remain silent when a government uses water cannons on peaceful protesters.
We believe the darkness will be over and dawn will come eventually. We stand behind the most treasurable value; we stand up for democracy!
Sunflower Movement Pittsburgh 