TAIPEI (AFP) ― Taiwan said on Sunday it would stop construction at a controversial nuclear power plant after tens of thousands of protesters blockaded a main street in the capital calling for the project to be scrapped.

Protesters broke through a police cordon to take control of a busy eight-lane intersection demanding an end to construction of the “Nuke Four” power station outside Taipei.

Later on Sunday, the ruling Kuomintang party yielded to pressure from the antinuclear demonstrators and promised to stop work at the plant.

“There will be no further construction of Reactor 1,” Kuomintang spokesman Fan Chiang Tai-chi told reporters.

“Only safety checks will be done and after that it will be sealed for storage.”