｜ ｜ Protest: The Crucial 20 Days September 24, 1991: The 100 Action Alliance petitioning at the KMT headquarters. Photographer: Hsu Po-hsin The 100 Action Alliance conducting non-violent protest in front of the Legislative Yuan. Photographer: Liu Chen-hsiang Got Off on the Wrong Foot? Indifference from Officials, Warm Public Support out that there was indeed room for discussion when it came to Article 100 of the Criminal Code, but the KMT would only accept amending the law, not repealing it altogether. Lee Chen-yuan said that he could not agree to the KMT deciding how to amend the law and forcing the people to accept it. Doing so would mean be contrary to the people’s wishes. Next, the alliance wanted to visit the other KMT sub-group, New Kuomintang Coalition, but was refused. The sub-group said that since both sides had completely different stances, it would be better for them not to work together. On the 26th, the alliance held the Article 100 of the Criminal Code: Abolition vs. Amendment Debate at the NTU Auditorium. They challenged the Ministry of Justice to the debate but were refused, so the event However, the Legislative Yuan, the highest government body representing the people, refused to let them in, barring them outside with iron doors and the police. After some back and forth negotiations, Lee Chenyuan and the others were finally allowed into the Legislative Yuan conference room to watch a broadcast of the meeting. The petition was unsuccessful. That afternoon, Lee Chen-yuan, Chen Shih-meng, Lin Shan-tien, Liao I-en, and Chu Hei-yuan visited the KMT headquarters, hoping the KMT Central Standing Committee would add Article 100 of the Criminal Code to its items for discussion. KMT Secretary General Soong Chu-yu, however, made up rea- 100 Chapter 3 sons to evade meeting with the alliance, sending the director of the Dept. of Secretariat to meet with them instead. Since there were no high-level KMT representatives present, the meeting had little significance. However, that night, the news reported how Lee Chen-yuan and the others petitioned the Legislative Yuan only to be shut out the door. This immediately drew the ire of students and faculty members of NTU’s College of Medicine. They started a petition to abolish Article 100 of the Criminal Code on campus. Some universities even formed student taskforces to coordinate strikes on military training class, echoing the alliance’s anti-military parade stance. On the 25th, the alliance visited the KMT subgroup Brainstorming Breakfast Assembly in search for support. Then legislator Huang Chu-wen pointed was changed to a briefing instead. Even so, over 2,000 people packed the auditorium. Lee Chen-yuan, Chen Shih-meng, Lin Shan-tien, Chang Chung-tung, National Chung Hsing University’s Criminal Law Professor Liu Shing-i, and Chen Shui-bian took turns speaking, garnering great applause and boosting the alliance’s morale. On the same day, the alliance launched the Petition of Academics to Abolish Article 100 of the Criminal Code. For such a conservative era under an authoritarian regime, the fact that the petition was quickly signed by over 900 professors shows that the KMT’s grip over the academic circle had loosened. On the 27th, members of the alliance petitioned at the Legislative Yuan for a second time, but the front gates remained locked. The security guard said that 101