In 1996, a rust-streaked freighter carrying barrels of nuclear waste attempted to dock at Orchid Island off the southeastern coast of Taiwan. It never made it to shore.
Hundreds of residents, mostly from the island’s indigenous community, blocked the vessel with fishing boats and rocks, forcing it to turn back. It was the last time nuclear waste was sent there.
"I told them, if they insisted on coming in, we would burn the ship that night,” recalled Kuo Chien-ping, one of the movement’s leaders.
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