what are your thoughts of the rally?
i thought it was great to see so many people out there. i had a great time. seemed well organized for a rally for 1 million people. you don’t get that many ppl together often so there isn’t a book on how to run something like this, i assume. is there an official count out yet?
500,000 is the police count. Taidu propaganda writer are sticking to 1 million.
I think 500,000 is a closer count, since it didn’t look much larger than the 319 protest last year.
[quote]http://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/26/international/asia/26cnd-taiwan.html?hp
Organizers said they had met their goal of attracting a million protesters, though the police put the crowd at more than 500,000.[/quote]
In my experience, demonstration organisers’ estimates of people attending are always double those of the police - and I’m talking about Britain here.
Having stated the aim of mobilising a million people (it was Chen Shuibian who did that), the organisers could not put the numbers at anything less, otherwise they would lose face.
[quote=“ac_dropout”]500,000 is the police count. Taidu propaganda writer are sticking to 1 million.
I think 500,000 is a closer count, since it didn’t look much larger than the 319 protest last year.
[/quote]
The pan-blue rag UND estimated the crowd to be from 800,000 to a million.
bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid= … refer=asia
CNN is reporting “Police estimated the crowd at about a million, The Associated Press reported.” edition.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/asiap … index.html
The BBC reports it in the vague hundreds of thousands, meaning anything up to but short of a million.
CBS, ABC, USA Today and NYT are all putting the number at around a million.
Regardless how many turned up, I thought it was great. No major scuffles broke out - that I know of at least - everyone was friendly and enthusiastic, and I think considering the whopping number of people there, it went really really well. I also think Chen Shuibian should never sing in public again.
Fights do not break out among the already converted.
The smiling faces and overwhelmingly good-natured atmosphere of the marches and rally formed a striking contrast with the sour faces, bitter ranting, and violence that always seem to characterize gatherings associated with Lien Chan and the pro-China camp. I didn’t see any gangsters or rent-a-mob, either.
I think this should be made an annual event, to keep the Anti-Secession Law and China’s aggression fresh in the awareness of the international community as well as to bolster the unity and resolve of Taiwan’s decent majority in rejecting intimidation from the CPC and its local allies. It could be held on the Saturday closest to the date of enactment of the Anti-Secession Law.
We did a great job, China will NEVER think of attacking us now.
So, did they do the Kiddie Moon thing? (Son of Braveheart?)
marketing blunder 101
By choosing green as the theme color instead of something neutral to everyone (like purple or black), they turned away 1000s of blue leaning supporters. To me, it looked like a DPP rally. The organizers should have made it clear not to bring any party flags. (yeah, i know roc flags is for blues, but i would say acceptable).
[quote=“4nr”]marketing blunder 101
By choosing green as the theme color instead of something neutral to everyone (like purple or black), they turned away 1000s of blue leaning supporters. To me, it looked like a DPP rally. The organizers should have made it clear not to bring any party flags. (yeah, I know roc flags is for blues, but I would say acceptable).[/quote]
4nr -
Word I’ve been getting from off island observers mentions this quite prominently.
Much of this has been interpreted as a means to boost the ratings of CSB in light of his hinderance of any meaningful investigation of the alledged shooting.
Favorable reports and all that, but too much green to be seen as an island unifying consensus.
Yeah, but the pics I saw looked like they just simulated pigu with skin-toned cloth or paper. Definitely not as effective
what is the color of peace?
you may say it is white, but then again that’s the color of surrender…
UN blue may have been inappropriate.
I would have gone, but I didn’t know which day it was on.
I think it was right for the organizers to make the colors of the march flags and headbands etc., green since the KMT (CHINA Nationalist Party) and the PFP did not support this march. It was only the DPP / TSU so they should get the credit for this. The KMT people could have marched under their own colors and I honestly feel people would have cheered them on. I wished I had seen them there, I would have cheered them on.
The saddest part of the whole day was how stubborn the KMT / PFP Blues are. They seem to disagree with ANYTHING and EVERYTHING that the DPP / TSU parties do or say. Really sad. Taiwan needs to be united now. I wish there was something that could bring this country together.
Its time to unite as Taiwan citizens against China!
Interesting that the China Post estimated the crowd size to be 240 000, citing figures from Taipei police, while the Taipei Times said the number was around one million. Interesting but hardly surprising.
Regardless of the actual number, I was very happy to see Taiwan do something consturctive and positive in putting itself on the international radar. In my opinion, it was a refreshing change and a fantastic success in that regard :bravo: Congratulations on a job very well done, Taiwan!
I agree. The march in Taipei was among the top news in German media (TV, radio and online). I’m curious to see whether it’s going to make it on the front pages of the newspapers when they appear again on Tuesday.
Well done! :bravo:
Yes, I agree on this one. But since all the colors have been taken by other parties or symbolisms, we would have ended up marching with a salmon theme. 
:bravo: AMEN
I was surprised by the engineer from mainland China (and now an American citizen) that I met during the march. His attitude was more mature than many of the Pan-Blue Taiwanese. He told me that since the march was about democracy and peace and not independence, he had no trouble joining. He then told me that he couldn’t believe that some Taiwanese who were pro-China and that it was obvious they didn’t understand how the Communists had wrecked China.