Indigenous Taiwanese demand justice in local Black Lives Matter protest

As people flocked to the streets in Taiwan to show support to the 'Black lives matter' campaign that recently came to spotlight in the US, hundreds of indigenous Taiwanese joined the protest to demand justice.

The 'Black lives matter' protests are to demand justice against the racism that minority groups in the US face. The presence of the indigenous Taiwanese in the protest marked the injustice faced by the island's original inhabitants.

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The protest was a peaceful march attended by more than 500 people, with light police presence.

The protest was organised to show solidarity with the millions of people fighting in the US and other parts of the world against the injustice and discrimination faced by the African-American community all over the world, especially in the US.

Taiwan locals took this opportunity to highlight the problems faced by the locals in the country too.

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Savungaz Valincinan, an ethnic Bunun from central Taiwan, detailed the difficulty the indigenous Taiwanese faced, in the past and present, who make up less than 3 per cent of the island's population, and call for broad opposition to any form of discrimination.

She made it clear that the discrimination faced is not as bad as the African American community in the US, however, it still hurts and is unjust.

She alleged that the indigenous Taiwanese have to face discrimination when it comes to renting a house, or the usage of their language.

"We don't want any special treatment. What we want are the most basic rights that we deserve as human beings. We are coming out today to support this movement not because of sympathy - it is because we have also gone through the hurt of being discriminated against," she said.

(With inputs from Reuters)