While those attending a public hearing yesterday on the Assembly and Parade Law (集會遊行法) agreed that reforms were necessary, government officials, legal activists, academics and lawmakers still held different views on whether clauses on restricted areas, the police’s power to disband demonstrations and the penalties on people who violate the law should be removed.
“It’s necessary to mark some areas as off limits for demonstrations to maintain the security of government offices,” National Chengchi University law professor Su Yung-chin (蘇永欽) told the public hearing held by the Legislative Yuan’s Internal Administration Committee.
The law states that the immediate surrounding areas of the residences of the president and vice-president, the premier, the Executive Yuan, and courthouses — among other government buildings — are off limits for demonstrations.
“Some law revision activists argued that since there are other laws, such as the Criminal Code (刑法), that sanction violent actions, the penalties should be removed from the Assembly and Parade Law. I’m opposed to that,” Su said. “The Criminal Code does not penalize people for carrying rocks around, but when demonstrators carry rocks with them they should be sanctioned as rocks can be used as weapons.”
However, Soochow University law professor Nigel Lee (李念祖) disagreed.
“Of course people who use violence should be sanctioned by the law, however it’s wrong to presume that everyone who participates in a demonstration will engage in violent acts,” Lee said.
Lee also supported removing the restricted areas, since “holding a rally is a civil liberty as basic as walking on a sidewalk.”
On the other hand, Chou Yu-hsiu (周宇修), a member of the “Wild Strawberries” student movement that is demonstrating for amendment to the law, raised the issue of whether police should be able to disband demonstrations.
“Police officers on the scene have full authority to decide when to disband a demonstration and they often abuse that power,” Chou said.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) echoed Chou’s view.
“Suppose there are a million people on the street, how will police disperse the demonstrators after issuing a disbandment order? And suppose there’s a small group of people — maybe five or 10 — demonstrating. What’s the point of disbanding that demonstration since they cannot possibly cause much disruption to social order anyway,” Cheng said.
Deputy Minister of the Interior Chien Tai-lang (簡太郎) said that police should retain the power to disband rallies as a means to maintain order in case of emergency. Central Police University’s Foreign Affairs Department chair Tsai Ting-jung (蔡庭榕) said the clause should be retained, but the decision-making power should be in the hands of the elected mayor or an independent assembly and parades commission.
Opinions expressed in the public hearing will be forwarded to the Executive Yuan as a reference as it works on its own draft of a revision to the law.
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
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
‘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 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
RSS