The Taipei City Government's failure to exercise authority and enforce law and order yesterday would have repercussions on the country's democracy, legal professionals said.
"The city government has neglected its duty," Y.C. Kao (
He was referring to the tens of thousands of slogan-chanting red-clad anti-Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) protesters who took to the streets of Taipei without getting permission for the rally from the Taipei City Government.
Taipei City Police Department Commissioner Wang Cho-chiun (王卓鈞) had said on Monday that the anti-Chen camp's "siege" around the Presidential Office building would be illegal since the campaign organizers had not applied for a permit from the city to hold a parade or rally.
Wang said that the planned parade would violate the Assembly and Parade Law (
However, Taipei police did not enforce the law because Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (
"So long as they [the protesters] are not violent and do not break the peace, Taipei City police will handle the situation with flexibility," Ma said yesterday.
The city's decision violated the principle of the rule of law, which would hurt the nation's democracy, Kao said.
"The city government cannot say the people have the right to express their opinions and yet fail to enforce the law," he said.
Kao said he was concerned that the Taipei police department's poor handling of the event would set a bad precedent for other illegal protests.
He said the Taiwan Association of Human Rights and 20 other civic groups, including his foundation, see the Assembly and Parade Law as a bad law.
These groups believe the government has used it as a tool to suppress, rather than protect, the public's liberty -- explaining why they have been pushing for it to be amended.
But until the law is amended, it should be obeyed and enforced, Kao said.
Lin Ching-tsung (林慶宗), a prosecutor with the Kaohsiung branch of the Taiwan High Court Prosecutors' Office, told the Taipei Times that the city government's decision not to remove protesters in accordance with the law meant that the city was in contempt of the law.
This would not happen in a mature democracy, he said.
According to Lin, the law stipulates that police are able to remove protesters at an illegal rally after officers raise warning signs three times and broadcast an appeal for the protesters to leave.
The Taipei police did not raise signs announcing the assembly was illegal, which then made it impossible for them to formally ask the protesters to leave.
Lin said the police's "soft approach" broke the law and would have a negative impact on future policing of rallies and protests.
The law gives the police the power to permit or deny applications for assembly, restrict protesters' activities, maintain order and dismiss assemblies.
Hong Kong singer Andy Lau’s (劉德華) concert in Taipei tonight has been cancelled due to Typhoon Kong-rei and is to be held at noon on Saturday instead, the concert organizer SuperDome said in a statement this afternoon. Tonight’s concert at Taipei Arena was to be the first of four consecutive nightly performances by Lau in Taipei, but it was called off at the request of Taipei Metro, the operator of the venue, due to the weather, said the organizer. Taipei Metro said the concert was cancelled out of consideration for the audience’s safety. The decision disappointed a number of Lau’s fans who had
A tropical depression east of the Philippines became a tropical storm early yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, less than a week after a typhoon barreled across the nation. The agency issued an advisory at 3:30am stating that the 22nd tropical storm, named Yinxing, of the Pacific typhoon season formed at 2am. As of 8am, the storm was 1,730km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point, with a 100km radius. It was moving west-northwest at 32kph, with maximum sustained winds of 83kph and gusts of up to 108kph. Based on its current path, the storm is not expected to hit Taiwan, CWA
Commuters in Taipei picked their way through debris and navigated disrupted transit schedules this morning on their way to work and school, as the city was still working to clear the streets in the aftermath of Typhoon Kong-rey. By 11pm yesterday, there were estimated 2,000 trees down in the city, as well as 390 reports of infrastructure damage, 318 reports of building damage and 307 reports of fallen signs, the Taipei Public Works Department said. Workers were mobilized late last night to clear the debris as soon as possible, the department said. However, as of this morning, many people were leaving messages
A Canadian dental assistant was recently indicted by prosecutors after she was caught in August trying to smuggle 32kg of marijuana into Taiwan, the Aviation Police Bureau said on Wednesday. The 30-year-old was arrested on Aug. 4 after arriving on a flight to Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, Chang Tsung-lung (張驄瀧), a squad chief in the Aviation Police Bureau’s Criminal Investigation Division, told reporters. Customs officials noticed irregularities when the woman’s two suitcases passed through X-ray baggage scanners, Chang said. Upon searching them, officers discovered 32.61kg of marijuana, which local media outlets estimated to have a market value of more than NT$50 million (US$1.56
RSS