The protest was initiated by a private association of prostitutes, which joined
forces with jobless workers, those who borrow to live, and some low-level
social groups to stage the protest in front of the Presidential Office.
Over the past 10 years since Chen eliminated public prostitution operation,
Chung Chun-chu, executive secretary of the Ju Ju Chun Association (of former
legal prostitutes), said there has been a sharp increase of 70 percent in
underground whores, and an increase of NT$130 million in debts recorded by
jobless prostitutes.
Chung continued that the government has cracked down on 38,263 illegal "sex
workers" over the past eight years, and they have been jailed for a total of
35,405 days, leading to a loss of NT$270 million in sex-service income during
the jail terms. She went on to say that over the past seven years after Chen
assumed the presidency of Taiwan, around 30,000 people have committed suicide
for failing to make a living.
The protesters furled posters reading "Save the 'Suicide Nation' before Joining
the United Nations," and raised cloth banners trying to soothe the wandering
souls of those who killed themselves over the past seven years.
They also tried to burn paper portraits of Chen, but some 30 policemen and
policewomen moved to extinguish the fire, with no one injured.
The China Post
