228 Hand-in-Hand Rally
The
228 Hand-in-Hand Rally (
Chinese: 228百萬人手牽手護台灣;
pinyin: 228 bǎi wàn rén sh'u qiān sh'u hù tái wān; meaning literally "February 28th, one million people hand-in-hand to protect Taiwan") was a
demonstration in the form of a
human chain held in
Taiwan on
Peace Memorial Day (
February 28),
2004. Over 1 million Taiwanese formed a 500-kilometer (300-mile) long human chain, from the harbor at
Keelung, Taiwan's northernmost city, to its southern tip at
Eluanbi,
Pingtung County to commemorate the
228 Incident, to call for peace, and to protest the deployment of
missiles by the
People's Republic of China aimed at Taiwan along the mainland coast.
This demonstration was inspired by
Baltic Way, the human chain comprised of two million that was organized in the
Baltic states in
1989, where the
Soviet Union later invaded to stop the Baltic states from declaring independence. Although billed as "non-political", the event was organized by the
Pan-Green Coalition and took place only a few weeks before the
2004 ROC presidential election. Some of the symbolism of the demonstration, particularly at the point in the event where participants "turn away from China" (in this context, "China" refers to the
People's Republic of China) veered clearly toward support of Taiwanese independence, and hence was not attended by members of the
Pan-Blue Coalition who countered the demonstration with an island-wide rally of their own days later.
There were rumors that actor
Sean Connery was going to participate in the demonstration, but this did not occur. A
People First Party legislator claimed that Connery cancelled the trip after being informed by the PFP that the demonstration was a political event. However, it is unclear whether Connery ever had any intention of visiting Taiwan.
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Hand-in-Hand Taiwan Alliance — official site
