Migrant workers, concerend local NGOs, and the Migrante Sectoral Party will be holding a demonstration in front of the Manila Economic Cultural Office in Taipei over the arrest of the ailing 73 year old Anak Pawis (Toiling Masses) Representative Crispin Beltran on charges of sedition as well as five other left-wing congresspersons who were taken in under the Arroyo administration’s “state of emergency.”
I know of eleven people who have been arrested and have claimed to have been beaten by soliders after hitch hiking to a show in Baguio two weeks ago. News reports have said they signed statements that they were intending to rebel against the government, however a know a few of these kids personally and they’re just a bunch of punk kids in their late teens, early twenties - not NPA by any stretch.
Anyway, whether you want to participate or just want to observe, this will be a good chance to meet some of the lefty Taiwanese NGOs and talk to Filipino activists and get a different perspective.
When?March 31, 11:00
Where?Manila Economic and Cultural Office
Address?107, Chung Hsiao East Rd. Sec. 4, Metrobank