May5,2012Vol.135.docVIP

May 5, 2012 Vol. 135 Protests over Demolition of Houses in Shilin by Theodore Pigott, special correspondent Taipei is a city that is constantly changing. Unfortunately, not everyone is always happy with these changes. This is the case in Shilin, where this March and April protests have been held to express unhappiness about redevelopment efforts there. The problems began when Le Young Construction came up with a plan to build a new 15-story apartment building on a plot of land in Shilin. To do so, the construction company needed to convince the property owners there to sell them their land. Le Young was able to obtain the consent of 95 percent of the homeowners. However, one family, the Wangs, refused to sell their two residences. The construction company then turned to the Taipei City government, citing the Urban Renewal Act and calling for government officials to evict the Wangs from their land. News of this situation quickly spread across the Internet, and hundreds of college students and young people gathered to protest the eviction of the Wangs and the demolition of their homes. Emotions were running high on March 28, the day these homes were to be demolished. More than 1,000 police officers were on hand to escort the demolition team. Four hundred or so protesters attempted to stop the demolition, but they were removed by the police. Not long after, the two residences were reduced to piles of rubble. How could this happen? Experts say that the Wangs did not object to the project in written form during its initial phases. Perhaps more importantly, because more than 75 percent of the land owners in this location gave their approval to this project, the construction company had the right to ask for government assistance in demolishing these properties, based on the Urban Renewal Act. Some have now called for the reexamination of this policy. In the days that followed, the construction company threatened to sue some of the protesters over their comments on