Aborigines claim they are prosecuted for carrying out their traditions.
The News Lens
Date: 2016/08/25
By: ZiQing Low
Truku Aborigines from the Knkreyan Village, also known as Tongmen Village (銅門部落), in Hualien
台灣原住民族太魯閣族學生青年會前會長Ciwang Teyra，在反亞泥路跑現場講述此地名為太魯閣。Photo Credit：地球公民基金會
County gathered in front of the Ninth Division of the Seventh Special Police Corps today to protest over the arrest of three tribe members.
Local police arrested the three men under the Mining Act on Aug. 18 for the illegal mining of rhodonite, a pink mineral prized by collectors, on state-owned land. However, one of the Knkreyan villagers, Rakaw Didi, said the rock collected by the men was limestone, not rhodonite.
The 200-kg rock in question was handed over to the Hualien Forestry Bureau for examination, and then returned to the location where it was found, the Chinese-language Liberty Times reported. Police claim the rock was rhodonite. The Hualien Forestry Bureau has yet to confirm those claims.
In a Facebook post, the Ninth Division says police received a tip-off informing them that the three men were mining rhodonite in the Tongmen area. The men were found using an electric winch and cables to lift the rock from the river bed. Rakaw Didi said police were giving the Truku Aborigines a bad name by claiming the Truku men were stealing rhodonite from the area. [FULL STORY]