Taiwanese police disperse recount protesters

Opposition supporters hurled stones and water bottles as some 1,000 riot police today tried to end a demonstration demanding a recount of ballots in the president’s razor-thin election victory two weeks ago.

At least seven people were injured when scuffling broke out as police tried to disperse around 100 protesters who had camped outside the Presidential Office in the capital Taipei overnight, television news reports said. Footage showed a man with a bloodied forehead being carried away by four policemen.

After a few hours, police drove the protesters to the nearby headquarters of the opposition Nationalist Party.

The demonstrators were remnants from a rally yesterday to call for a recount of the March 20 election, in which President Chen Shui-bian won by a margin of 0.2%. Some 15,000 people turned out for yesterday’s protest.

The government has already agreed to a recount, but the two sides have yet to decide how to proceed. On Friday, Taiwan’s High Court gave the two camps five days “to work out the procedure and method for the recount” before meeting again.

Chen and Vice President Annette Lu were lightly injured in a mysterious shooting on the eve of the election – an incident widely believed to have swung the vote in Chen’s favour.

Police have yet to identify a suspect in the shooting and have called for witnesses to come forward with information. US forensics experts have confirmed that Chen’s injury was caused by a gunshot.

They are to report their detailed findings later this month.

Opposition presidential candidate Lien Chan has insinuated that the shooting might have been staged by Chen to win sympathy votes. Lien has also claimed the election was marred by voting irregularities.

In a speech at yesterday’s protest, Lien demanded a special investigative commission be set up to find out the truth about the shooting.

“Why not address the people’s demands? What is it you cannot say?” Lien said, berating Chen’s refusal to form the commission.

After the protest, the ruling party, which has already launched an investigation of the shooting, said there was no legal basis for settin up such a commission.

“This is not a problem of us accepting or not accepting that demand, but any demand cannot go outside the constitutional order,” said Lee Chin-yung of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party.