Over the weekend, a chaotic Double Ninth Festival hiking event organized by the Taipei City Government turned violent, leaving 23 people injured. The Social Welfare Bureau, which organized the event, admitted the need to distribute gifts to an additional 12,000 participants. The event cost over NT$1 million to hold but will require another NT$6 million in follow-up costs to distribute the extra gifts. City councilors demanded that the municipal government hold those responsible accountable.
Taipei City hosted a Double Ninth Festival hiking event on the 28th, with Mayor Ko Wen-je personally participating. However, due to an unexpectedly high turnout of nearly 100,000 people—seven to ten times more than anticipated—23 elderly participants were injured in a scramble for lottery tickets, resulting in bloodshed. Mayor Ko publicly apologized multiple times, calling the event a "failure" and "counterproductive," and promised to distribute additional gifts.
According to Apple Daily, Hsu Li-min, head of Taipei’s Social Welfare Bureau, reported at the Civil Affairs Committee yesterday that a review meeting was held on Monday (the 30th). He conducted a self-assessment of the event's shortcomings, including inaccurate crowd estimates, an overwhelming number of participants, poor communication along the route, early distribution of lottery tickets, and a failure to respond when large crowds were noticed early in the morning.
Hsu Li-min stated that 12,000 people who attended the event but did not receive gifts and had provided personal information would be given equivalent replacement gifts. The original gifts included lunch boxes, water bottles, and large towels, valued at around NT$500.
The Social Welfare Bureau claimed the Double Ninth hiking event cost NT$1.07 million to organize. Councilors criticized the additional NT$6 million needed for the replacement gifts. When asked to assign responsibility, Hsu Li-min responded, "We will definitely not shirk responsibility," but did not give a direct answer.