The Taoyuan Airport Incident

Overview

On 30 November 1986, during the legislative election campaign, leading opposition figure HSU Hsin-liang planned to fly back to Taiwan after years of exile. The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) called for a mass mobilisation to welcome him at the airport. However, they unexpectedly confronted a large number of police and military personnel on the highway to the airport. The police attempted to disperse the crowd with water cannons and tear gas numerous times. The two sides even attacked each other with rocks. The only three TV stations at the time – TTV, CTV and CTS – repeatedly broadcasted scenes of the crowd throwing rocks and accused the DPP of being a violent party, attempting to affect the election results. The airport incident that Green Team captured soon became a popular video that the DPP candidates played at their campaign headquarters to subvert official lies in a timely manner. This film is a full coverage of the incident, edited after the election.