Mass protest in Taiwan over conscript

http://news.msn.co.nz/worldnews/870...-over-conscript

03:20 Sun Aug 4 2013 by AAP

More than 100,000 people in Taiwan have taken to the streets in protest over the death of a young conscript allegedly abused in the military.

Singing a Taiwanese take on the revolutionary song "Do you hear the people sing?" from the hit musical "Les Miserables", protesters rallied at a square near the presidential office in Taipei on Saturday.

They were mostly dressed in white, a colour symbolising truth in local culture.

It was the second mass protest since Corporal Hung Chung-chiu died of heatstroke on July 4 - apparently after being forced to exercise excessively as punishment for taking a smartphone onto his base - just three days before the end of his compulsory year-long military service.

About 30,000 people demonstrated outside the defence ministry in the capital on July 20, according to Citizen 1985, an activist group that organised the protests.

"We estimate a bigger turnout today on the eve of Hung's funeral than the previous protest. We hope the government will hear the people's anger at its handling of the case," Liu Lin-wei, a spokesman for the group, told AFP.

"I want to thank everyone for your efforts and I hope we can have truth and justice for Chung-chiu with all your help," Hung's mother told the crowd.

Organisers claimed 200,000 people joined the protest, while the government's estimate of the crowd size was 100,000.

"I am mourning for Hung Chung-chiu and I want the truth. I hope there won't be any more abuse and death like his in the military," said protester Jenny Tan.

President Ma Ying-jeou has apologised for the incident and vowed to seek justice for the victim and punish those responsible.

"The cabinet has requested the defence ministry and the justice ministry to spare no effort to investigate the case and review the current system to prevent any unhumanitarian actions and abuse of power," Premier Jiang Yi-huah told reporters.