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WORLD NEWSWednesday 10 February
Taiwan seeks detention of developers of toppled building
ANNIE HO
Associated Press
TAINAN, Taiwan (AP)
— Prosecutors have re-
quested the detention of
the developers of a high-
rise apartment building in
southern Taiwan that col-
lapsed over the weekend
following a strong earth-
quake, killing dozens of
people, official media said
Tuesday.
The Tainan District Prosecu-
tors Office said Lin Ming-
hui and two other former
executives, Chang Kui-
an and Cheng Chin-kui,
were suspected of profes-
sional negligence resulting
in death, Taiwan’s official
Central News Agency re-
ported.
The office requested their
detention to prevent col-
lusion or other acts that
could disrupt the investiga-
tion, CNA said. The three
Hong Kong activists, police clash over holiday food stalls
KELVIN CHAN
Associated Press
HONG KONG (AP) — Hong
Kong’s Lunar New Year cel-
ebration descended into
chaos as protesters and
police, who fired warning
shots into the air, clashed
over a street market sell-
ing fishballs and other lo-
cal holiday delicacies, with
dozens injured and more
than 60 arrested.
The violence is the worst in
Hong Kong since pro-de-
mocracy protests rocked
the city in 2014, leaving a
growing trust gap between
the public and authorities.
Activists angered over au-
thorities’ attempts to crack
down on the food hawk-
ers in a crowded Kowloon
neighborhood held run-
ning battles with police into
the early morning hours of
Tuesday.
Protesters pelted officers
with paving stones, glass
were summoned by pros-
ecutors on Monday and a
hearing on the matter was
being held late Tuesday.
FTV and other Taiwanese
broadcasters said Lin had
changed his name after a
previous bankruptcy and
had run a multitude of
companies.
The death toll in the quake
stood at 41 on Tuesday af-
ternoon, with all but two of
the deaths coming in the
building collapse. More
than 100 people are be-
lieved to still be trapped in wall to avoid falling onto his and 2-year-old son were
the debris.
Shoddy construction is sus-
pected as having contrib-
uted to the disaster, with
the 17-story Weiguan Gold-
en Dragon, built in 1989,
the only major building to
collapse in the quake.
Although the shallow
quake was potentially
devastating, few buildings
Riot police move forward to the protesters on a street in Mong Kok district of Hong Kong, Tuesday,
Feb. 9, 2016. A crackdown on street vendors offering holiday treats for Hong Kong’s Lunar New
Year celebrations sparked unrest late Monday night.
bottles and other pieces
of debris. Some threw gar-
bage cans, plastic safety
barriers and wood from
were damaged as a result
of strict construction stan-
dards in force in Taiwan,
an island that is frequently
struck by quakes.
Most of the 320 people
who were rescued from the
disaster were saved in the
hours immediately after the
quake, in which the build-
ing collapsed onto itself
before toppling over onto
its side.
Among the survivors, Ko
Ching-chung said he had
propped himself against a
girlfriend after the quake hit found dead, and five other
just before 4 a.m. Saturday.
But after 20 hours, he could
no longer hold on and col-
lapsed onto her.
“She would have soon not
been able to breathe,” Ko,
who was rescued along
with his girlfriend on Sun-
day morning, told report-
ers Monday at the hospital
shipping pallets. They also
set fires on the street.
The unrest started when
authorities tried to prevent
where he was recovering. she was looking forward to
“I said to her I had to lay on gorging on sweets as soon
top of her and she said to as she was well enough.
me it’s OK.” Shortly after she was res-
Five survivors were believed cued, workers also pulled
to have been pulled out on out her aunt, a 28-year-old
Sunday, and at least four Vietnamese woman identi-
on Monday. One of them, fied as Chen Mei-jih, who
Tsao Wei-ling, called out had been trapped on what
“Here I am” as rescuers dug was the building’s fifth floor.
through to find her. Earthquakes rattle Taiwan
She was found under the frequently. Most are mi-
body of her husband, who nor and cause little or no
had shielded her from a damage, though a mag-
collapsed beam, CNA re- nitude-7.6 quake in central
ported. Tsao’s husband Taiwan in 1999 killed more
than 2,300 people.
The quake struck during the
members of the family re- most important family holi-
mained unaccounted for, day in the Chinese calen-
the news agency said. dar — the Lunar New Year.
Teams on Monday also res- The extended Lunar New
cued a 42-year-old man Year holiday — the most
and an 8-year-old girl. important family holiday in
The girl, Lin Su-chin, was the Chinese calendar —
recovering in a hospital, officially started Monday,
where she told her father but celebrations in Taiwan
and grandparents that have been subdued.q
ers have become a local
tradition during the Lunar
New Year holiday but this
year authorities tried to re-
(AP Photo/Kin Cheung) move them.
The hawkers were backed
unlicensed street food sell- by activists who objected
ers from operating Monday to the crackdown over
night in Mong Kok, a work- concerns that Hong Kong’s
ing-class district. The hawk- local culture is disappear-
ing as Beijing tightens its
hold on the semiautono-
mous city.
The scuffles underscore
how tensions remain un-
resolved more than a
year after the end of pro-
democracy protests that
gripped the city. Mong
Kok, a popular and dense-
ly populated shopping and
entertainment district, was
one of the neighborhoods
where activists occupied
streets for about 11 weeks
in late 2014, capturing
world headlines with their
demands for greater elec-
toral freedom.q