Announcing plans for a procession to be held on Thursday in Taipei, pro-independence groups yesterday said they hoped to pass on the memories of the 228 Massacre so that similar mistakes would never be repeated.

The 228 Incident refers to the violent suppression of anti-government uprisings by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) that began on Feb. 28, 1947 — 16 months after the end of Japanese colonial rule.

Between 18,000 and 30,000 people, the majority of them Taiwanese and in particular leaders and intellectuals, are estimated to have been killed.