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進入《TAIPEI TIMES 焦點》 Ko visits student protesters, urges calm
Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je, second right, yesterday visits students protesting at the Ministry of Education in Taipei and urges them to take care and remain calm. Photo: Chang Chia-ming, Taipei Times
‘RATIONAL, PEACEFUL’: Ko Wen-je said the students would not be evicted if they remained calm, and urged the education minister to face them and settle the issue
By Alison Hsiao / Staff reporter
Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je （柯文哲） yesterday visited students protesting against curriculum guideline changes who had staged a sit-in at the Ministry of Education compound since early yesterday morning, urging them to take care and remain calm.
Before visiting the students who have been camping on the plaza in front of the ministry’s main building after breaking the iron barricades in the small hours of yesterday morning, the mayor said he was in a bind, as he was sympathetic to the students, but also did not want the police to become “human shields under the scorching heat of the sun.”
Ko then called on Minister of Education Wu Se-hwa （吳思華） to face the students squarely to quickly settle the issue, saying that evading the problem would not disperse the students.
Wu should be a bit more brave if he is playing the role of a hatchet man, Ko said.
The mayor visited the protesting students outside the ministry building at about 2:30pm, about half an hour after the minister’s appearance and talk at the compound.
He praised the students’ devotion to a public issue and pleaded for them to pay attention to their own safety and refrain from extreme acts amid overcharged emotion.
“The police are people’s nanny, not their enemy; do not put too much pressure on them,” he said, asking the protesters to maintain a “rational and peaceful attitude” and “refrain from employing overheated methods to express dissenting views.”
“After all, Taiwan should progress toward a more civilized society. Protest is the people’s right, but don’t make it excessively fierce,” Ko said.
Ko added that he does not want Taiwan to lapse into extreme polarization due to ideological struggles.
The mayor’s promise not to evict the students “if they remain calm” was met with chants of “Thank you mayor” from the young protesters.
In his characteristically casual way of speaking, Ko told the students that he had brought cookies with him for both the protesters and the police.
“I thought that sweets usually cheer people up, but I guess it is probably too hot to eat anything right now,” he said.
The mayor said he had also brought boxes of bottled water, cautioning the students in his capacity as a medical doctor “to stay in the shade to guard against heatstroke.”
新聞來源：TAIPEI TIMES
