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TAIPEI - VIOLENT protests that broke out over the past week in Taiwan, as a Chinese official visited the self-ruled island Beijing claims as its own, injured 149 police officers, their department said on Saturday.
Taiwan protesters fearful the island government was getting too close to China clashed with officers around Taipei venues from Tuesday through Friday, in some cases hurling objects including feces, eggs and Molotov cocktails at columns of riot police who moved to clear the demonstrations.
Among those injured, five were in the hospital on Saturday.
Another 25 have been treated and released from hospitals, and the others sustained only minor injuries, a National Police Agency duty officer said.
'The police officers were cut, hit, knocked down or squashed,' the China Times newspaper said.
Taiwan mobilised about 7,000 police for the Nov 3-7 visit of Mr Chen Yunlin, China's top Taiwan affairs negotiator and the highest-level Chinese official to reach the island in 60 years.
China has claimed sovereignty over Taiwan since 1949, when Mao Zedong's Communists won the Chinese civil war and Chiang Kai-shek's Nationalists (KMT) fled to the island. Beijing has vowed to bring Taiwan under its rule, by force if necessary.
The negotiator's visit, which included deals to open new trade and transit links and a brief meeting with Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou, helped warm official ties between the two sides.
But thousands of anti-China demonstrators dogged Mr Chen almost every step of his visit, and 18 suspected organisers of the more violent actions have been arrested, local media said.
About 100 protesters were hurt as well, police told the media. -- REUTERS
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