Taichung Mayor Jason Hu (胡志強) yesterday said he would take full responsibility if the police abused their power and hurt civilians during protests against the visit of Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait (ARATS) Chairman Chen Yunlin (陳雲林) and a Chinese delegation.
Hu described the upcoming protests as “typhoons,” while promising not to treat the protesters as a “mob.”
“It’d be best if typhoons never hit, but we should be prepared for the worst situation. However, we will not treat the protesters as a mob,” Hu said yesterday in Taichung when asked to comment on the planned protests by the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP).
PHOTO: CHAN CHAO-YANG, TAIPEI TIMES
A demonstration organized by the DPP that is expected to attract 100,000 people is scheduled to take place today in Taichung to protest against the fourth round of cross-strait negotiations headed by Taiwan’s Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) Chairman Chiang Pin-kung (江丙坤) in Taichung.
The DPP and pro-independence groups are also planning several protests during Chen’s stay in Taiwan from tomorrow to Friday.
The Taichung mayor, who has deployed hundreds of police to guard the city, said he expected DPP Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) to fulfill her promise of leading peaceful protests, adding that he would take responsibility if the rallies get out of hand.
“I will have failed in my duty as a mayor if anyone is hurt during the protests. I will take full responsibility if police hurt or arrest protesters as long if the [protesters] haven’t broken any rules,” he said.
Asked about the Mainland Affairs Council’s (MAC) plan not to announce Chen’s schedule until the last minute, Hu said the MAC and the city government should prioritize the safety of the guests.
In addition to meeting Chiang, Chen is expected to tour central Taiwan, including Sun Moon Lake and a trip to visit Typhoon Morakot victims in the area.
In a meeting yesterday afternoon between Hu and DPP Secretary-General Su Jia-chyuan (蘇嘉全), the two agreed to work together to keep today’s demonstration peaceful.
Su visited Hu on behalf of Tsai because she was apparently upset after Hu made a remark on Friday asking demonstrators not to “vandalize stores” during their march.
“I’ve come to express our hope that the right of the public to freely express their opinion will be fully respected while the meeting between Chiang and Chen takes place,” Su told Hu, adding that the DPP hopes police will show some restraint and follow proper procedure when enforcing the law.
Su said that crowds mobilized by the DPP never vandalized stores.
“Such incidents were done by unknown people who had penetrated the crowd, and if it happens again, we hope that the police and other security personnel will deal with people who commit such offenses according to the law,” Su said.
He added that the DPP would set up an emergency operations center with party officials after the demonstration today to stay in touch with the city government and help authorities handle any violent incidents in a timely manner.
“I believe Mayor Hu is a wise person who is able to make sure both the meetings and the demonstrations run smoothly,” Su said.
Hu said that he fully agrees that the freedom of expression is a right protected by the Constitution.
Meanwhile, Tsai yesterday promised the demonstrations would be a peaceful, unless police overreacted.
“The DPP is a party with discipline and we’re doing our best on risk management [to avoid conflicts during the demonstration,” Tsai said in an interview with the Chinese-language United Evening News.
“Disciplinary action will be imposed on any member of the party who does not follow party orders,” she said, adding that the DPP will speak Jason, but act peacefully.
“We have also talked to other groups that will join us in the demonstration and they have promised to act according to our guidelines,” she said.
Tsai went on to say that rather than focusing on whether physical clashes would occur during the demonstration, more attention should be focused on whether the government hears what the demonstrators want to say.
“It’s the Chinese Nationalist Party’s [KMT] mentality that those who take part in a demonstration in which physical clashes occur are rioters, and rioters should not go on the streets — this is just wrong logic,” she said. “Violence does happen in rallies from time to time, but random and isolated incidents of violence should never be used as a reason to restrict people’s freedom of expression.”
At a separate setting in Taitung as Tsai campaigned for the DPP candidate for the legislative by-election, Lai Kun-cheng (賴坤成), she urged the police not to overreact to the demonstration.
“Most of the rallies organized by the DPP have been very peaceful,” she said. “It’s true that physical clashes [between demonstrators and police] happened last year, but it was because police were too harsh on demonstrators.”
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