Protest against burying waste in the Moon World mudstone; Longqi residents head north to confront the government: "You owe this land a debt of gratitude"
The "Tainan Longqi Industrial Waste Landfill" planned to be built on the mudstone of the national treasure Moon World has been mired in controversy. Recently, before the Tainan City Government had even issued a permit, Ouxin Company first conducted a detention pond project in the area on the grounds of soil and water conservation, triggering dissatisfaction among local residents. Today (the 14th), Chen Yonghe, the head of Niupu Village in Longqi District, Tainan City, along with nearly a hundred Tainan Longqi residents, many of them elders in their seventies and eighties, went together to protest at the Industrial Development Bureau of the Ministry of Economic Affairs and the central party headquarters of the Democratic Progressive Party, hoping to revoke the extension permit for the "Southern District (Longqi Plant) Industrial Waste Comprehensive Treatment Center" development project.
In the face of the large-scale protest, You Zhenwei, deputy director-general of the Industrial Development Bureau of the Ministry of Economic Affairs, came out to explain, "Everyone think about it, doesn't every home need a living room, a kitchen, and a toilet? So if this society has production, there will be waste to handle. We just need to find a place and handle it properly in a legal way." He stressed that construction would only be carried out after approval through a legal application. Chen Yonghe said, "Would you put your toilet in the living room or kitchen? Right now, the wrong location for waste treatment has been chosen."
