Keelung Mayor Chang Tong-rong (張通榮) of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) was indicted yesterday for allegedly interfering with the police detention of a suspect, in connection with an incident in which he is said to have forced police officers to release a woman who had punched a police officer.
Keelung prosecutors indicted Chang with illegally freeing a detained person. If found guilty, he could face a prison term of between one and seven years.
The chief of the Anle (安樂) police station, Lin Hung-sheng (林煌盛), and a police officer surnamed Liao (廖) were also charged with illegally freeing a detained person, while a woman surnamed Liao was charged with interfering with the duties of a police officer.
Prosecutors said on the evening of Sept. 14, a female police officer surnamed Wang (王) saw a woman (Liao), allegedly drunk at the time, start her car and prepare to drive away. Wang asked the woman to step out of the car so she could run some sobriety checks. However, the woman shouted at Wang and allegedly punched her in her face.
Police then arrested the woman and brought her to the Anle station on charges of interfering with the duties of a police officer.
Police officers called Liao’s daughter to the police station, where she made telephone calls to KMT Keelung Councilor Shen Yi-chuan (沈義傳) and Chang.
Shen went to the police station and allegedly asked the officers to free Liao without charge, but the police refused.
Chang later went to the police station, and asked officers not to charge Liao with interfering with the duties of a police officer, but find some other ways to “punish” her.
After the officers refused his request, Chang started to hit a table with his hands and reportedly shouted at police officers: “You are great. You are so great. I will have [National Police Agency] Director-General Wang [Cho-chiun (王卓鈞)] come here to give you rewards, and then ask Director-General Wang to transfer you outside Keelung. I do not want to see honest and hard-working police officers like you remain unhappily in Keelung.”
“I am a person who bears resentments. You could do whatever you want to do. That is OK for me. I am removing you. Give me commissioner [Keelung City Police Department Commissioner Frank] Chiu [(邱豐光)],” Chang allegedly said.
Prosecutors said two police officers, Lin and Liao, finally accepted Chang’s request and removed the woman’s handcuffs and allowed her to leave the station without charge.
Honor guards are to stop performing changing of the guard ceremonies around a statue of Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) to avoid “worshiping authoritarianism,” the Ministry of Culture said yesterday. The fate of the bronze statue has long been the subject of fierce and polarizing debate in Taiwan, which has transformed from an autocracy under Chiang into one of Asia’s most vibrant democracies. The changing of the guard each hour at the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall in Taipei is a major tourist attraction, but starting from 9am on Monday, the ceremony is to be moved outdoors to Democracy Boulevard, outside the eponymous blue-and-white memorial
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) supports peaceful unification with China, and President William Lai (賴清德) is “a bit naive” for being a “practical worker for Taiwanese independence,” former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) said in an interview published yesterday. Asked about whether the KMT is on the same page as the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) on the issue of Taiwanese independence or unification with China, Ma told the Malaysian Chinese-language newspaper Sin Chew Daily that they are not. While the KMT supports peaceful unification and is against unification by force, the DPP opposes unification as such and
The annual Taipei Summer Festival, which starts today, is to tone down its fireworks displays, the Taipei Department of Information and Tourism said on Monday. Fireworks displays are to be held at the riverside site in Datong District’s (大同) Dadaocheng (大稻埕) area on four days at this year’s festival, with the first today, and then on Wednesday next week, July 31 and Aug. 10, the department said. There were eight displays last year, with the reduction aimed at minimizing inconvenience to local residents, it said. The first three shows, which are all on Wednesdays, are to last for five minutes, while the final
FATAL ILLNESS: Untreated symptoms can rapidly worsen to complications such as high fever, seizures and loss of consciousness, and can be life-threatening, a doctor said Hospitals have been reporting dozens of people with heat-related illnesses every day over the past week, given continuous high daytime temperatures, so recognizing the early signs of heatstroke is crucial in preventing serious complications, a Taipei City Hospital emergency physician said. The Central Weather Administration yesterday issued a heat alert for 19 cities and counties across Taiwan, with temperatures in New Taipei City, Miaoli County and Pingtung County likely to exceed 38°C, and temperatures in 12 cities and counties likely to exceed 36°C for three days straight. More than a dozen people were taken to hospitals for heat-related illnesses every day from