Relatives of victims of the 228 Massacre yesterday criticized former premier Hau Pei-tsun (郝柏村) over his comments that only about 500 people — instead of the commonly seen estimates of between 20,000 and 30,000 — were killed during the massacre, calling it a baseless rewriting of history.

“What Hau said in a letter to the editor [published in the Chinese-language United Daily News on Tuesday] about the 228 Massacre is unacceptable, because his statement was seriously biased, and was a complete betrayal of historic facts,” said Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Lee Chun-yi (李俊俋), who accompanied victims’ families in a news conference at the legislature.