*TAIWAN'S ''NUCLEAR-FREE'' HOMELAND?

PROTESTERS RALLY : Hundreds gathered at an anti-nuclear rally in Taiwan on Sunday to demand -

That the government keep its pledge to abolish the use of atomic energy by 2025.

Waving placards reading ''nuclear go zero,'' and ''abolish nuclear, save Taiwan,'' protesters rallied outside the presidential office in Taipei on the same day as -

Japan marked the seventh anniversary of the Fukushima disaster.

Protester were worried by a recent decision by the cabinet-level Atomic Energy Council to allow state-owned energy company Taipower to restart a reactor at a facility near Taipei, pending parliament's final approval.

The reactor has been offline since May 2016, after a glitch was found in the electrical system, which the company said has since been resolved.

Anti-nuclear groups are now questioning whether President Tsai Ing-wen's Democratic Progressive Party [DPP] will keep its promise to phase out nuclear energy.

''It would be violating the spirit of creating a nuclear-free homeland by 2025 pledged by the DPP, '' said Tsui Shu-hsin of the prospect of restarting the reactor.

[Agencies]