Taiwan opposition mounts second major protest over election loss

9.25am

TAIPEI - More than 60,000 supporters of Taiwan's opposition party protested this morning NZ time) to demand an independent inquiry into an election-eve assassination attempt on President Chen Shui-bian that they say swung the poll.

Led by defeated presidential candidate Lien Chan of the Nationalist Party, they waved flags and tooted horns at Taipei's Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall in the second major demonstration after the hotly disputed election on March 20.

Around-the-clock protests and the violent storming of election commission offices have divided the island and triggered alarm in rival China, which views the pro-independence Chen as a threat to regional stability.

The Nationalists have warned of "endless" protests if their demands are not met and Lien said they could hold another rally on April 10.

"We will continue to let Mr Chen Shui-bian know that he must bow to people power," Lien told the cheering crowd. "We demand the truth. We will not stop until the truth is clear."

Chen won the election by just 30,000 votes out of more than 13 million cast, the day after he was shot in the stomach while campaigning in an open-top jeep in the southern city of Tainan.

Lien says the shooting caused a swelling of sympathy votes and raised suspicions it may have been staged.

"The whole shooting episode was suspicious. This election was unfair," said elementary school teacher Lu Shu-yuei.

"I have no respect for our head of state and I don't trust our government," she said, waving Taiwan's flag.

Police estimated 60,000-70,000 people had joined the peaceful rally.

CLASH WITH POLICE

After the rally ended, a few hundred people walked to the square in front of the nearby presidential office to continue their demonstration.

The protest began peacefully but as it progressed the crowd tried to storm a barricade and clashed with helmeted riot police who used their shields to push them back and disperse them from the square.

Some protestors who threw bottles, chairs and road barriers were detained. No one appeared to be seriously injured.

Lien led half a million people to the square on March 27 to dispute the election's outcome. The protest was Taiwan's biggest and ended a week-long sit-in outside the presidential office.

"After today, we're going to wind down the rallies. We're not going to hold daily rallies any more, maybe weekly or bi-weekly," said Su Chi, one of Lien's top aides.

Su said the opposition will focus on a vote recount and the investigation into the shooting.

"If these clouds are not cleared away, Chen's presidency will be marred for four straight years," he said.

The Nationalists have filed a lawsuit to nullify Chen's razor-thin victory, and at a hearing on Friday the judges gave both sides five days to agree the terms of a recount.

The lawsuit also cites voting irregularities and a record 330,000 invalid ballots, triple the number rejected in the last presidential election four years ago.

Chen has agreed to a full recount, which would include the spoiled ballots. However, his Democratic Progressive Party has rejected a proposal by the Nationalists to pass a special law that would allow an independent inquiry into the shooting.

In a bid to meet opposition demands, the president permitted a team of US forensic experts to examine his wound and gave them access to evidence in the case.

Before returning to the United States, the team said the president's injury was indeed a gunshot wound, but said further conclusions required more analysis of data.

- REUTERS