Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je faced backlash after canceling the Senior Citizens’ Festival subsidy following his inauguration. This morning, the Taipei City Social Welfare Bureau held the 2017 “Happy Mountains, Active Seniors” Hiking Event, attracting a large crowd. Not only did it cause severe congestion on the Brown Line of the Taipei Metro, but reportedly due to overly complicated routing, the scene quickly spiraled out of control—with over ten elderly participants falling and getting injured, sparking outrage among attendees who shouted at Ko Wen-je (aka Ko P) to step down and take responsibility.
The hiking event kicked off at 9 a.m. Prior to the start, organizers distributed raffle tickets for participants to join a lucky draw and receive snacks. However, once people arrived on-site, the reportedly confusing layout led to complete chaos even before the event began, with crowds scrambling over raffle tickets and several elderly individuals falling and bleeding.
An anonymous attendee said that midway through the hiking route, they were told the path ahead had narrowed—allowing only two people to pass at a time—resulting in a bottleneck on the mountain with no way up, while those behind were told to turn back. He expressed strong dissatisfaction with how disorganized the city government’s Double Ninth event was. Voices of anger filled the scene, with demands for Ko Wen-je to resign and be held accountable.