The National Police Agency (NPA) yesterday said it is investigating if aviation police properly handled the violent clashes at CKS International Airport between supporters and opponents of Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Lien Chan (
A spokesman said that NPA Director-General Shieh Ing-dan (
Hsieh wants to know as soon as possible if any aviation police were negligent, the spokesman said.
Several legislators have expressed their discontent over the way aviation police handled the scuffles between the rival supporters, noting that some people carried banners, sticks and firecrackers into the airport terminal, which they said violated the law and was a smear on the nation's image.
The medical-aid station at the airport estimated that 15 people were injured during the melee, mostly suffering head injuries, while two more seriously injured people were taken to hospital for further observation.
Meanwhile, the Aviation Police Office expressed its sympathy to people who were injured in the incident, adding that it would track down those who triggered the disturbances by reviewing videotapes and photos taken during the fracas.
Aviation Police Office head Chen Juei-tien (陳瑞添) said that as the airport was an open area, it had not been cordoned off in consideration of passengers.
This was why some of the protesters were able to carry hazardous items into the departure area, he said.
Chen admitted there might have been negligence and lapses in judgment in the police's handling of the situation.
Stressing the police had communicated beforehand with the groups in question, Chen said the police had hoped that they would exercise self-restraint and that their supporters would be rational.
He said that because of the lapse in security, eggs, sticks, rocks, knives, swords and firecrackers were brought into the airport terminal.
Supporters mobilized by the pro-independence Taiwan Solidarity Union, an ally of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), and the pro-unification New Party and other supporters converged at the airport ahead of Lien's departure at 10:55am.
Aviation police originally hoped to have the pan-blue alliance stay outside the departure lobby, while the pan-green camp was to stay in a parking lot in the west wing of the airport compound.
But DPP Legislator Wang Shih-chien (
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and