[10th Anniversary of the March 18 Movement Series Event] Returning to the Site of the March 24 Executive Yuan Violent Eviction Incident

On March 17, 2014, Chang Ch'ing-chung, the Kuomintang convenor of the Internal Administration Committee of the Legislative Yuan, unilaterally sent the Cross-Strait Service Trade Agreement out of committee and forwarded it to the plenary session for recordation. That same day, a large number of citizens quickly gathered outside the Legislative Yuan. On March 18, citizens opposing the black-box trade agreement escalated their protest tactics, storming the Legislative Yuan and occupying the legislative chamber with the demand to return the trade agreement. Thus, the 318 Movement kicked off.

The so-called "March 24 Executive Yuan Violent Eviction Incident" occurred because, by the evening of March 23, 2014, the government had ignored the people's demands for six days. Some protesters shifted their occupation target to the Executive Yuan and were subjected to severe state violence and forced eviction in the early morning of March 24. Those who assisted in maintaining order at the scene were prosecuted for offenses such as property damage, intrusion into a residential building, and instigating others to commit crimes.

At the same time, citizens injured due to the excessive exercise of public authority, with the assistance of the March 18 Volunteer Lawyers Group, filed private prosecutions and state compensation lawsuits to jointly hold accountable those responsible for the violent eviction of citizens on the night of March 24, hoping to investigate and restore the truth of that night through litigation.

This year marks the tenth anniversary of the March 18 Movement and the March 24 Executive Yuan Violent Eviction Incident. Over the past decade, through litigation, the volunteer lawyers group has pro bono accompanied the parties involved through the public trials of state compensation and private prosecution cases, preserving a massive amount of evidence including state violence litigation documents, images, and transcripts. In the defense cases, they also prompted Taiwan's judiciary to confront concepts such as "civil disobedience," "the right of resistance," and the "crime of instigating others to commit crimes," deepening democracy and the rule of law.

A decade has passed. To allow the younger generation who did not experience the events of that year to understand them, The Reporter has launched a series of reports, attempting to use multimedia elements—combining frontline live footage taken that year by reporter Lin Yu-yu and image data provided by the Judicial Reform Foundation—to recreate the timeline of the events on the night of March 24, 2014. At the same time, they reconnected with movement participants from back then to share their stories from before and after the decade. This special feature will be released on March 18.

We invite our friends of the younger generation, who have never experienced the turbulent times of the March 18 Movement, to unpack the details behind the special feature through The Reporter's guided reading; and to return to the scene with us, letting reporters and lawyers guide everyone through the protest sites to understand this movement that has profoundly influenced Taiwan's current democratic and legal landscape.

Online Registration

▋Time

March 24, 2024, 13:30-17:30

▋Agenda

13:30~14:00 Check-in
14:00~15:00 Lecture｜Lin Yu-yu: Why Discuss the 318 Movement After a Decade? Why Choose Digital Curation? What Do We Hope the Website Will Show Everyone?
15:00~15:20 Lecture｜Attorney Lin Chien-hung: The Judicial Process Following the Incident
15:20~16:00 Walking Tour｜Executive Yuan Circumambulation: Chenchiang St. ＞ Tientsin St. ＞ Peiping E. Rd. Executive Yuan Back Gate ＞ Chungshan N. Rd. ＞ Ch'ingtao E. Rd. ＞ Left Books
16:00~17:00 Q&A Session

▋Location

Left Books (No. 3-1, Chenchiang St., Jhongjheng District, Taipei City)

▋Guided Readers

• Lin Yu-yu ｜ Reporter, The Reporter
• Lin Chien-hung ｜ Attorney, March 18 Volunteer Lawyers Platform

▋Participation Format

In-person

▋Capacity

30 people