Taiwan protesters pelt eggs over China flight route

Taiwanese demonstrators threw eggs and slippers to protest against China’s launch of a controversial new flight route on Sunday, accusing the government of failing to stand up to Beijing.

Thirty-odd members from the radical anti-China opposition party Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) attempted to push their way through a police line that guarded the entrance of a shrine where President Ma Ying-jeou was visiting. After chanting slogans like “Ma Ying-jeou betraying, humiliating country” and a series of tussles with police, several of the demonstrators broke through the line but were blocked from going further.

“People of Taiwan by no means accept M503,” a protest leader said, referring to the new route near the middle of the Taiwan Strait which separates the island from mainland China. “Ma is a coward. He dares not say ‘No’ to China.” 

Holding protest signs, the crowd angrily pelted eggs and slippers at Ma’s motorcade, but the projectiles fell short.