The Kaohsiung Incident (Chinese: 高雄事件; Pinyin: Gāoxióng shìjiàn) refers to the aftermath of a human rights rally the Formosa faction organised on the 10th of December 1979. The police, disobeying the orders of President Chiang Ching-kuo, deployed tear gas and truncheons against the rioters, which the conservative wing of the KMT used as supposed evidence of violent dissent and basis for prosecuting the radical opposition.
In response, Kang Ning-hsiang and his moderate The Eighties faction came to their rescue and assembled a team of leading attorneys, including Chen Shui-bian, to defend them in court. Most of those tried were convicted and given prison sentences.
In addition, while the police kept the incarcerated Lin Yi-hsiung's home under constant surveillance, an unidentified person had broken in in February 1980 and murdered his mother and one of his seven-year-old twin daughters, severely maiming the other. The outrage sparked by these events severely tarnished the KMT's reputation and helped popularise the newly established Wives and Lawyers Club, which consisted of the relatives and attorneys of the incarcerated politicians, representing the same causes.
By the late 1980s, as the country's democratisation continued, the defendants were eventually released, many before serving their full terms.
