It seems everday on the news here there is a political rally in protest of Taiwan President Chen Shui-bian. These events look like a lot of fun, a lot of shouting, flag-waving, banners, and mild disorder. They are like rallies in the United States except people actually go to them instead of watching them on television. For lack of anything else really exciting to do on Saturday after work, I decided to check out the rally organized by the People First Party in front of the Presidential Office Building.

If there was any question as to where the rally was taking place, the fine folks at the Taipei Metro made nice big signs to guide sightseers to the event:

This was about as close as I was willing to get to the stage:

Television cameras captured the event:

And police took a break from cracking down on illegal sidewalk vendors to watch the crowd:

Someone must have tipped off the media that there was going to be a rally:

The Presidential Office Building sits quietly behind the security barrier:

There was a lot of flag-waving accompanied by airhorns and shouts for resignation:

The PFP estimated a turnout of 40,000:

The crowd really didn’t thin out until the East Gate:

While in this part of town, I took a short walk to the Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial Hall and grabbed a quick shot:

If you stumbled upon this site expecting some meaningful commentary on Taiwanese politics I am sorry to disappoint you, try The View from Taiwan and Taiwan’s Other Side.

[Taiwan] [Taipei]