Members of the press yesterday accused police of attacking them, when law enforcement officers forcibly evicted protesters occupying the Executive Yuan.
“Reporters, please leave the place. We will soon begin to disperse the crowd,” police officers said to the dozens of reporters at the back gate of the Executive Yuan at about 1am yesterday, as they prepared to evict protesters occupying the compound.
Shortly afterward, police began pushing reporters out of the gate. Moreover, contrary to their earlier statement that members of the media could stand right outside the gate, they kept on pushing the reporters to move further away.
Photo: Wally Santana, AP
The move triggered protests from the reporters, many of whom accused the police of violating freedom of the press. Those who insisted on going inside or just standing by the gate were immediately surrounded by officers and pushed out.
As the police began to disperse the crowd inside the compound, a number of reporters were also dragged or attacked by officers.
“When officers approached me, I showed them my press pass, and repeatedly told them that I am a reporter, but an officer from Nangang Police Precinct would not listen to me,” a newspaper reporter surnamed Chu (朱) said after he was evicted. “He kicked me in the back and hit me with his fist.”
Not long after, shouting could be heard from the Executive Yuan’s back gate.
“How could you do this to journalists? You hit my cameraman, pulled him away, and then also dragged me away from the scene,” a TV reporter yelled at officers near the gate. “You always say you are protecting reporters. Is this how you protect us?”
More than a dozen similar incidents were reported, with a number of reporters suffering serious injuries such as bone fractures.
At nearly 5am, when police were moving on to evict protesters occupying an annex building, a line of officers pushed forward, forcing reporters away from the scene and into the pressroom.
Some later heard reports that police had decided to clear the pressroom as well. However, a senior reporter helped to negotiate with police to allow reporters to stay in the room.
The Association of Taiwan Journalists (ATJ) yesterday condemned the police for using violence against members of the media.
“The ATJ has received more than 10 cases of attacks on media reporters by the police during the student occupation of the Executive Yuan. The ATJ condemns the police for using violence against the media and violating the freedom of the press,” an ATJ statement said.
“We also strongly protest the police’s decision to disperse media reporters before dispersing the protesters. We suspect that the objective is to block the media from reporting the truth. This is a serious violation of the freedom of the press, and the worse example set in a democratic society,” the association said.
Later yesterday, when asked by the Taipei Times about the police action, which blocked reporters from covering their move to break up the protest, Premier Jiang Yi-huah (江宜樺) said he told National Police Agency Director-General Wang Cho-chiun (王卓鈞) that the police had to make sure to ask reporters to leave before they started crowd dispersal measures so that reporters would not get hurt by water cannons.
“If there were reporters who were pushed when they were trying to secure a better place to take photos, I am sorry, but I wanted every reporter to be safe while they they were working,” Jiang said.
Additional reporting by Shih Hsiu-chuan
‘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
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
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