Chen declared winner despite protests
Taipei (AsiaNews/Agencies) Chen Shuibian has been officially declared winner of Taiwan's presidential elections, the Central Elections Commission (CEC) announced today. The announcement came despite heated protests led by supporters and members of the Kuomintang (KMT) opposition party and as rallies have erupted into violence for the first time.
Hundreds of protestors rallied for the sixth day in a row in front of the President's Office while roughly 200 citizens demonstrated outside the building where the CEC was meeting. Demonstrators blocked the building's entrance and heaved rocks and stones while clashing with police forces. After crossing security lines and breaking glass doors, the protestors burst into in the CEC meeting room. However, the commission's members had already adjourned and left the room.
Meanwhile, China has already expressed its reaction. The Taiwan Affairs Office in Beijing released a statement in which it said China "will not just sit and watch should the post-election situation get out of control, while provoking social disorder, endangering the lives and well-being of our flesh-and-blood brothers and sisters or jeopardizing stability in the strait of Taiwan. " (MR)
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