Taiwanese Americans voiced their anger at Taiwan’s continued exclusion from the UN in a protest on Saturday near Times Square

Taipei Times
Date: Sep 17, 2015
By: Chris Fuchs  /  Contributing reporter in New York

Taiwanese Americans took to the streets of New York Saturday to call attention to Taiwan’s

exclusion from the UN, just two weeks before Pope Francis is expected to address the 70th UN General Assembly in his first trip as pontiff to the US.

“Every year, we’re gonna shout, we’re gonna fight and we’re gonna be heard,” Outreach for Taiwan co-founder Jenny Wang (汪采羿), one of the organizers, screamed through a microphone as more than 100 people, penned in by New York Police Department metal barricades along Seventh Avenue near Times Square, waved baby-blue “UN for Taiwan” flags.

For 24 years, Taiwanese in New York have staged rallies similar to the one held on Saturday, usually timing them to the start of each new general assembly. Unlike last year’s event, this year’s included a sidewalk march from Dag Hammarskjold Plaza, a park near the UN, to Seventh Avenue between 41st and 42nd streets.

Chanting “keep Taiwan free,” among other slogans, marchers held aloft UN for Taiwan flags as well as small green-and-white ones, featuring a green image of the nation in the center, as they threaded their way through throngs of tourists and a motley mix of cartoon characters, like Spongebob and Mickey Mouse, who posed for photos in exchange for cash with sightseers visiting Times Square.     [FULL  STORY]