Taiwanese launch another protest over young conscript’s death

Tens of thousands of Taiwanese took to the streets on Saturday in protest over the death of a young conscript who died from alleged abuse in the latest scandal to rock the island’s government.

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

This 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, said.

Police estimates of the crowd size were not immediately available.

“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.