May 20 Farmers’ Movement
520農民運動
Source: The 520 Farmers’ Movement
From: Taiwan Encyclopedia
Date: February 17, 2012. Author: Wang Jung-lin
The 1988 Taiwan Farmers’ Movement (also known as the 520 Incident or 520 Farmers’ Movement) was a large-scale social mass movement by Taiwan’s farmers on May 20, 1988 — the first violent clash between police and civilians after the lifting of martial law. The movement was directed by Lin Kuo-hua, with Hsiao Yü-chen as deputy director. Its protest target was the potential harm to farmers’ rights from agricultural liberalisation; it put forward seven demands: comprehensive agricultural insurance, comprehensive dependant health insurance, free fertiliser trading, increased guaranteed price and purchasing quota for rice, abolition of the township farmers’ association general secretary nomination system, abolition of the irrigation association chairperson nomination system, establishment of an Agriculture Ministry, and free trading of farmland. Police and protesters clashed multiple times during nearly twenty hours of standoff; in the early hours of the following morning, authorities deployed military and police to disperse the crowds. In total, over 130 people were arrested and 96 referred for prosecution.
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External Links
- [Special Article] The Eternal God of War of the Farmers’ Movement — In Memory of Lin Kuo-hua (Chen Wan-chen)
- Daring Era — The 520 Farmers’ Movement (1988) (Digital Islands)
- May 20, 1988: The 520 Farmers’ Movement Erupts in Violent Clashes (People News)
- 1988 Taiwan Farmers’ Movement (Wikipedia)