Kaohsiung Incident
[3] At that time, the Republic of China was a one-party state under the Kuomintang, called Dang Guo, and the government used this protest as an excuse to arrest the main leaders of the political opposition.
During the late 1970s many opponents of the KMT seeking democracy gradually organized themselves as an opposition camp, following the establishment of the magazine Taiwan Political Review by Kang Ning-hsiang in 1975.
The outcome of the election demonstrated the potential of Tangwai as a quasi-opposition party to the ruling KMT and laid the ground for the ensuing mass movement.
Tangwai, which had won steadily expanding support, was strongly frustrated and disappointed about Chiang's decision since it suspended the only legitimate method they could use to express their opinions.
On 21 January 1979, the KMT arrested Yu Teng-fa, another Tangwai leader, and his son with the intentional false accusation of propagandising for the Chinese Communist Party.
[7] On 20 April, the government impeached Magistrate Hsu Hsin-liang for participating the historical first democratic rally in the Martial law period.
[9] In November and early December, the southern command of Taiwan Garrison Command abetted 6 cases of local mafia members smashing the offices of the Formosa Magazine and Huang's residence in Taipei, Kaohsiung, and Pingtung with one employee injured by axe, allegedly by Lieutenant general Chang chi-hsiu (Chinese: 常持琇中將).
[9] On 9 December 1979, the Kaohsiung branch of Formosa Magazine dispatched two campaign wagons to broadcast the "Human Rights Forum".
The wagons were held up by police and two volunteers were arrested and beaten, which roused Tangwai and its supporters to protest at the Gushan branch of Public Security Bureau.
[citation needed] When the event took place during the evening, the military police marched forward and closed in on the demonstrators, then they retreated again to their original position.
The battalion commander explained that the purpose of this exercise was to cause panic and fear in the crowd and also to provoke anger and confusion.
[citation needed] In February 1980, Lin Yi-hsiung, a leader of the democratic movement, was in detention and beaten severely by KMT police.
[13] In April–May 1980, another group of 33 people, "The Kaohsiung 33", who had taken part in the Human Rights Day gathering were tried in civil court and sentenced to terms ranging from two to six years.
[citation needed] After the incident, four Tangwai participants were arrested and imprisoned on trumped-up charges of sedition, including Huang Hsin-chieh, Yao Chia-wen, Chang Chun-hung and Lin Hung-hsuan.
[17] The time period experienced a rising middle class, and a more open-minded Kuomintang (KMT) ruling regime that allowed some fostering of political opposition.
Chen Shui-bian, who was later elected to two terms as ROC president, was one of the defence lawyers, while his running mate, Annette Lu, was one of the "Kaohsiung Eight".
