Reports showed that gangsters were involved in the pro-cross strait service trade pact counterprotest organized by former Bamboo Union leader Chang An-le (張安樂) against the Sunflower movement at the Legislative Yuan yesterday, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said.
It called for Chang’s bail to be revoked in light of his alleged contravention of the rules of his release.
Chang, who now leads the China Unification Promotion Party, was released on NT$1 million (US$33,000) bail within hours of his return to Taiwan on June 29 last year after 17 years on the run.
Hung Chi-kune (洪智坤), a member of the DPP’s Central Executive Committee, posted smartphone screen captures reportedly taken from the Facebook page of a suspected gangster surnamed Liu (劉), which showed that Liu was trying to recruit people to take part in a “peaceful sit-in at the Legislative Yuan” for NT$500 apiece.
The post reportedly called the protest “an emergency mission.”
Liu was allegedly recruiting on behalf of the Bamboo Union’s Han Division (竹聯幫漢堂).
Hung said he received the photographs from a friend who was worried about gangsters’ involvement in the counterprotest and that he forwarded the information to the Taipei City Police Department’s criminal investigation division.
Chang has said that he organized the protest to take back the legislature, which belongs to the people, but is now illegally occupied by students.
DPP spokesperson Lin Chun-hsien (林俊憲) said that gang members’ direct and blatant involvement in the counterprotest and Chang’s high-profile actions, which could incite social divisions and conflicts, were a serious concern.
“It is unusual for someone who was released on bail to engage in such a high-profile and controversial activity. If you have checked Chang’s record, including his role in the 1984 murder of naturalized US citizen Henry Liu (劉宜良) in California and his having served sentences in the US for drug-related charges, you have to be worried,” Lin told a Taipei press conference yesterday morning before the counterprotest’s scheduled noontime start.
Since Chang has organized several rallies that were potential threats to social order since his return, prosecutors should revoke his bail, Lin said.
Lin also criticized the Executive Yuan’s warning on Monday against Chang’s planned protest because it had urged Chang and his supporters not to “fight violence with violence.”
The Executive Yuan appeared to be saying that the students who occupied the legislature — as well as the 500,000 people who participated in a peaceful rally on Sunday — were rioters who resorted to violence, Lin said.
“That was not the case. We do not think the reference was appropriate,” he said.
DPP Legislator Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁) questioned Chang’s nationality, saying that he is now a citizen of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and has betrayed the Republic of China (ROC).
“He should just mind his own business and leave Taiwanese affairs alone,” Chen said.
After Chang’s return last year, former minister of the interior Lee Hong-yuan (李鴻源) said that Chang “is now a PRC national and has lost his ROC nationality,” and that was why the government had not tried to extradite him under the Cross-Strait Agreement on Joint Crime-Fighting and Judicial Mutual Assistance.
Netizens and supporters of the Sunflower movement yesterday said that as a foreigner, Chang is barred by law from participating in political activities.
Chiang Chao-kuo (江肇國), director of Chen’s office, said the government does not consider a ROC national who also holds PRC citizenship to be a dual national.
That means that even if Chang held PRC citizenship, he would not be asked to give up his ROC citizenship, Chiang said.
“So you cannot say that he is a foreigner and cannot participate in politics,” Chiang said.
National Immigration Agency said late last night that Chang had never obtained PRC citizenship and his ROC citizenship was reinstated when he returned to Taiwan last year.
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