One year after the forced demolition in Taipo, a vigil was held at the original site of Zhang's pharmacy, vowing to rebuild the house

"Justice will not forget! Dapu will not forget!" Last night more than two hundred people gathered at the intersection of Gongyi Road and Ren'ai Road in Dapu, Miaoli, raising the chant in unison in front of the demolished Zhang Pharmacy.

A Year Later, the Original Houses Still Have Not Been Rebuilt

On July 18 of last year, Miaoli County Magistrate Liu Cheng-hung, seizing the "heaven-sent opportunity" of residents traveling north to petition, forcibly demolished four civilian homes in Dapu. The demolition took only a few hours, but the aftershock was endless, igniting soaring public anger; wherever the president and the premier went, protests followed: the August 15 surprise raid on the Executive Yuan with paint thrown, the August 16 protest rally in front of the Miaoli County Government, and the August 18 occupation of the Ministry of the Interior.

The anger of "dismantle the government" stems from Premier Wu Den-yih going back on his word and breaking his promise. On August 17, 2010, the Executive Yuan issued an official document, putting in black and white "preserve the original houses," yet the four Dapu households were still forcibly demolished by the Miaoli County Government.

Dapu's sorrow originates from Miaoli County Magistrate Liu Cheng-hung's "high-handed governance of the county." The Miaoli County Government, ignoring the fact that the administrative lawsuit filed by the self-rescue association to revoke the expropriation was still ongoing at the time, directly ordered 600 police officers to shield excavators as they forcibly demolished the homes.

On January 3 of this year, the Taichung High Administrative Court issued a retrial judgment, ruling that the Ministry of the Interior's expropriation was unlawful and the Miaoli County Government's demolition of the homes was illegal; the four Dapu households won the case.

The judiciary restored justice for the four Dapu households, but the matter has not ended: the demolition compensation has not yet been paid, the original houses have not been rebuilt, and Liu Cheng-hung has not apologized. More importantly, the improper expropriation caused the successive deaths of two residents, Grandma Zhu Feng-min and Zhang Sen-wen, owner of the Dapu Zhang Pharmacy, and those two lives can never be brought back.

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