In March 2015, Tainan removed Chiang statues from fourteen elementary and junior high school campuses and sent them to Daxi at Mayor William Lai's (DPP) direction. Lai announced the plan to remove the statues on 28 February 2015, during an event marking the 68th anniversary of the 228 Incident, stating the removal was both to avoid the annual vandalism of Chiang statues and to lift the symbols of autocratic rule in Taiwan. KMT Tainan city councilors criticized the secretive manner in which the Chiang statues were removed, and compared Lai to ISIS for wholesale destruction of cultural artifacts.