Amid heavy security and restricted media access, protesters engaged in skirmishes with police outside Taipei Guest House yesterday where President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) signed two UN human rights covenants in the run-up to the first anniversary of his inauguration.
Holding banners reading “The Assembly and Parade Act is unconstitutional, human rights are disappearing” and “peaceful, rational and non-violent,” civic groups gathered outside the Chung Yung-fa Foundation at the intersection of Xinyi Road and Renai Road to protest the government’s proposed amendments to the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法), which they said violated human rights.
Members of the Wild Strawberry Student Movement proceeded to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to continue the protest, but were surrounded by police.
PHOTO: CNA
One student surnamed Chang (張) was blocked by a plainclothes police officer when she tried to cross Ketagalan Boulevard.
“Why can’t I cross the street?” she shouted.
A clash ensued.
She was holding a cartoon poster featuring Ma signing the two UN conventions with his right hand while holding a hammer with his left hand striking the Assembly and Parade Act and the Chingmei Human Rights Memorial Park, with the English words “double fisted hypocrite” written at the bottom.
The plainclothes police officer declined to identify himself. Four or five of his colleagues surrounded the student and told her she could not cross because she was “holding a protest banner” and that she was “heading toward a restricted area where the two conventions were to be signed.”
Chang said she would sue the plainclothes police officer or complain to media outlets once she discovered his identity.
Chang and members of the student movement managed to cross the street and join a group of a dozen protesters led by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Taipei City councilors outside the Taipei Guest House.
Chanting “police violate the Constitution” and holding banners reading “Ma Ying-jeou, don’t lie!” and “No to leaning toward China, yes to human rights,” protesters said Ma had signed the two covenants with one hand but broke them with the other. The protesters dispersed at 11:45am, shortly after Ma and his motorcade left the Taipei Guest House.
The media were barred from covering the signing ceremony, except for the state-owned Central News Agency and some TV stations on rotation to broadcast events attended by the president.
In a press release later, Ma said: “I want the public to understand that the government is committed to protecting human rights, and it is not lip service but real action. I now declare to the world that Taiwan’s protection of human rights will be on the same track as the international community and at the same pace.”
Ma said that over the next two years, his administration would complete a blanket review of all laws and regulations to find those that conflict with the two UN covenants. They will be amended as soon as possible, he said.
Ma described Taiwan’s human rights as reaching “adulthood” and said signing the two UN covenants marked a milestone in the country’s efforts to protect human rights.
Ma said the two covenants he signed should be sent to the UN and will take effect in three months. Although he expected difficulty along the way, he has signed the implementation decree, which became effective on April 24.
Participants at the ceremony included the heads of the five branches of government, foreign diplomats, lawmakers and a handful of civic representatives.
AIR SUPPORT: The Ministry of National Defense thanked the US for the delivery, adding that it was an indicator of the White House’s commitment to the Taiwan Relations Act Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) and Representative to the US Alexander Yui on Friday attended a delivery ceremony for the first of Taiwan’s long-awaited 66 F-16C/D Block 70 jets at a Lockheed Martin Corp factory in Greenville, South Carolina. “We are so proud to be the global home of the F-16 and to support Taiwan’s air defense capabilities,” US Representative William Timmons wrote on X, alongside a photograph of Taiwanese and US officials at the event. The F-16C/D Block 70 jets Taiwan ordered have the same capabilities as aircraft that had been upgraded to F-16Vs. The batch of Lockheed Martin
GRIDLOCK: The National Fire Agency’s Special Search and Rescue team is on standby to travel to the countries to help out with the rescue effort A powerful earthquake rocked Myanmar and neighboring Thailand yesterday, killing at least three people in Bangkok and burying dozens when a high-rise building under construction collapsed. Footage shared on social media from Myanmar’s second-largest city showed widespread destruction, raising fears that many were trapped under the rubble or killed. The magnitude 7.7 earthquake, with an epicenter near Mandalay in Myanmar, struck at midday and was followed by a strong magnitude 6.4 aftershock. The extent of death, injury and destruction — especially in Myanmar, which is embroiled in a civil war and where information is tightly controlled at the best of times —
China's military today said it began joint army, navy and rocket force exercises around Taiwan to "serve as a stern warning and powerful deterrent against Taiwanese independence," calling President William Lai (賴清德) a "parasite." The exercises come after Lai called Beijing a "foreign hostile force" last month. More than 10 Chinese military ships approached close to Taiwan's 24 nautical mile (44.4km) contiguous zone this morning and Taiwan sent its own warships to respond, two senior Taiwanese officials said. Taiwan has not yet detected any live fire by the Chinese military so far, one of the officials said. The drills took place after US Secretary
THUGGISH BEHAVIOR: Encouraging people to report independence supporters is another intimidation tactic that threatens cross-strait peace, the state department said China setting up an online system for reporting “Taiwanese independence” advocates is an “irresponsible and reprehensible” act, a US government spokesperson said on Friday. “China’s call for private individuals to report on alleged ‘persecution or suppression’ by supposed ‘Taiwan independence henchmen and accomplices’ is irresponsible and reprehensible,” an unnamed US Department of State spokesperson told the Central News Agency in an e-mail. The move is part of Beijing’s “intimidation campaign” against Taiwan and its supporters, and is “threatening free speech around the world, destabilizing the Indo-Pacific region, and deliberately eroding the cross-strait status quo,” the spokesperson said. The Chinese Communist Party’s “threats
RSS