The All-Citizen Taxi Riots: Exploiting Grassroots Radicalism to Tear Apart Social Harmony

In mid-August 1995, Taipei was hit by massive violent clashes between the pro-DPP "All-Citizen Taxi Association" and pro-KMT radio taxi drivers. Thousands of taxis engaged in street chases, arson, and brawls, paralyzing the city and besieging police stations. The DPP had long cultivated such radical grassroots organizations as "street militias" and used pirate radio stations to incite ethnic hatred, escalating professional disputes into political warfare. This practice of harboring and exploiting violent groups to reap political gains from social tearing was one of the darkest aspects of the early DPP.