From the evening of September 1, 2006, the anti-corruption headquarters moved to Ketagalan Boulevard and held a series of small-scale “general mobilization briefings” as rehearsals for the sit-in protest. More than two hundred chairs were set out, and each trial sit-in lasted thirty minutes. When each sit-in ended, everyone raised the “Bian, step down” hand sign and shouted “A-Bian, step down!”
“I was summoned by the people. I do not lead the people; I follow them.”
On the first day of the rehearsals, Commander-in-Chief Shih Ming Te came at dusk to greet the crowd. He then went up on stage but insisted on not speaking, only smiling and raising the “Bian, step down” hand sign.
The second day of rehearsals happened to coincide with Chen Shui-bian’s state visit to Palau. The anti-corruption headquarters expanded its mobilization, calling on ten thousand people to gather on Ketagalan Boulevard at 6 p.m. as a “Ten-Thousand-Strong Red Send-off Team,” mocking Chen for lavishly spending public money on a visit to Palau, a country of only about ten thousand people.
At the rehearsal, headquarters set up low-frequency speakers that sounded a huge “boom” in time with the hand sign — both to let Chen Shui-bian inside the Presidential Office feel “the people’s anger” deeply, and to warm up for the events beginning on September 9.
Both nights of rehearsal were filled to capacity, and public feeling reached a boiling point. Yet under the direction of headquarters, the crowd displayed a high degree of reason and self-discipline, and the event ended peacefully with everyone leaving at 10 p.m.
