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Hundreds of students remained barricaded in Taiwan's Legislature early Wednesday in protest
of the ruling party's push for a trade pact with China, which demonstrators claim will
hurt the island. The protesters, mostly university students,
entered the main assembly hall inside the Legislative Yuan in Taipei on Tuesday night
and blocked the entrances with chairs, according to images and accounts filed from the scene
with CNN iReport. Police responded but had not dispersed the
protesters, who also filled the streets around the Legislature in the center of Taipei.
The students said they plan to occupy the Legislature until Friday's session, when the
pact was to be deliberated. Taiwan's state news agency reported that 38
police officers were injured when more than 400 protesters took over the Legislature.
Four protesters were arrested in two unsuccessful attempts to evict them, the news agency reported.
Police said there were more than 2,000 protesters both inside and outside the building, with
a equal number of officers on the scene. "We do not want to clash with the police,"
said protester and iReporter Shanny Chang, 19. "We just have to let the government know
that never try to fool the people." One CNN iReporter said that after the protesters
took over, hundreds gathered outside the building, with some making speeches and singing songs.
In a video, a
young woman sings Bob Dylan's song "The Times They are a-Changin'," which many associate
with the protest spirit of the 1960s. "She played the Dylan song because she thinks
the lyrics match the ongoing events happening in Taiwan," said iReporter George Chang, 24,
who shot the video. "Bob Dylan isn't really that popular in Taiwan, especially not to
the 8th grade generation, what Taiwanese call children born after 1991, but to the older
generations I think he isn't a stranger to them."
The trade pact was signed last year in Shanghai to ease investment and trade between the two
longtime adversaries, mainland China and Taiwan.