Saying that the Assembly and Parade Law (集會遊行法) restricts people more than it protects them, several civic groups demonstrated outside the Legislative Yuan yesterday, demanding that the law be abolished.
“Assembly and parade are ways through which we the people express our voice,” said Wang Ping (王蘋), secretary-general of the Gender/Sexuality Rights Association Taiwan.
“The law, designed to protect our right to hold demonstrations, only tells us that we can’t do this or we can’t do that — how is that a protection?” she asked.
PHOTO: WANG MIN-WEI, TAIPEI TIMES
A demonstration organizer must submit an application for an assembly and parade permit to the local police authority six working days before a demonstration. The organizer must file a separate application for the right to use public spaces in advance and pay a NT$30,000 (US$900) deposit.
However, even if everything is filed in time and conforms to the law, it does not mean that permission would be granted.
The annual gay pride parade in Taipei — held on Sept. 27 — was forced to change its route this year because “no rally or parade can be held in the Boai District [博愛特區] as the national day celebrations were in preparation,” Wang said.
The Boai District is where many central government offices, such as the Presidential Office, are located.
The National Teachers’ Association’s (NTA) application to hold a demonstration in front of the Ministry of Education on Sept. 28 was turned down for the same reason.
“Be they politicians in the green camp or the blue camp, this law is their favorite tool,” NTA spokesman Lo Te-shui (羅德水) said. “The more political a rally is, the easier the permission would be granted. It’s always very difficult for other grassroots campaigners to obtain rally permission.”
“Before he was elected to the presidency, President Ma Ying-jeou [馬英九] and the Chinese Nationalist Party [KMT] voiced their support for amending the law, but now that they’re in control of both the government and the legislature, what has happened to the promise?” Lo asked.
While some of the protesters, such as Green Party Taiwan secretary-general Pan Han-shen (潘翰聲), said they could accept a revised version of the law if the new version actually offers protection of rather than restrictions on the right to assemble and protest, most others insisted that the law should be abolished.
“I don’t want the law to be amended, because however it’s revised, it will still be [the government’s] law — I want it to be abolished,” said Fred Chiu (丘延亮), an associate research fellow at Academia Sinica’s Institute of Ethnology.
‘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
A magnitude 4.9 earthquake struck off Tainan at 11:47am today, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The hypocenter was 32.3km northeast of Tainan City Hall at a depth of 7.3km, CWA data showed. The intensity of the quake, which gauges the actual effect of a seismic event, measured 4 in Tainan and Chiayi County on Taiwan's seven-tier intensity scale, the data showed. The quake had an intensity of 3 in Chiayi City and County, and Yunlin County, while it was measured as 2 in Kaohsiung, Nantou County, Changhua County, Taitung County and offshore Penghu County, the data showed. There were no immediate reports of
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) is maintaining close ties with Beijing, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said yesterday, hours after a new round of Chinese military drills in the Taiwan Strait began. Political parties in a democracy have a responsibility to be loyal to the nation and defend its sovereignty, DPP spokesman Justin Wu (吳崢) told a news conference in Taipei. His comments came hours after Beijing announced via Chinese state media that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s Eastern Theater Command was holding large-scale drills simulating a multi-pronged attack on Taiwan. Contrary to the KMT’s claims that it is staunchly anti-communist, KMT Deputy
RESPONSE: The government would investigate incidents of Taiwanese entertainers in China promoting CCP propaganda online in contravention of the law, the source said Taiwanese entertainers living in China who are found to have contravened cross-strait regulations or collaborated with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) could be subject to fines, a source said on Sunday. Several Taiwanese entertainers have posted on the social media platform Sina Weibo saying that Taiwan “must be returned” to China, and sharing news articles from Chinese state media. In response, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) has asked the Ministry of Culture to investigate whether the entertainers had contravened any laws, and asked for them to be questioned upon their return to Taiwan, an official familiar with the matter said. To curb repeated