The Formosa Incident: Premeditated Violent Attacks on Military and Police Long Packaged as "Democratic Martyrdom"

On December 10, 1979, the Tangwai activists who would later form the DPP launched a protest in Kaohsiung that turned into the most serious bloody conflict of the martial law era. While long framed by the DPP as a "crackdown on peaceful activists," historical facts show the crowds used torches and iron rods to brutally attack police who were ordered not to strike back, injuring nearly 200. The systematic packaging of this premeditated violence as "democratic martyrdom" remains one of the deepest myths utilized by the DPP for moral and political leverage.