Opposition parties yesterday accused the National Security Bureau (NSB) and the police of breaking into a hotel room near Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport to expel people they suspected would protest against China’s Taiwan Affairs Office Minister Zhang Zhijun (張志軍), saying the act was a serious violation of human rights and an abuse of power.
Members of Democracy Tautin who checked into room No. 649 of the Novotel Hotel near the airport accused the bureau and the police of breaking into their room without a search warrant yesterday morning and ordering them to leave prior to the Zhang’s arrival.
“We condemn the act, which infringed on human rights and abused state power. The [President] Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) administration should not have taken away people’s freedom of expression and their liberty of movement,” Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) spokesperson Lin Chun-hsien (林俊憲) told a press conference. “Taking such action at an international hotel is reminiscent of the Martial Law period and tarnishes the country’s image.”
DPP Legislator Lee Chun-yi (李俊俋) questioned how the bureau had known the members had checked in at the hotel and the room where they were staying.
“You cannot conduct a raid or an arrest even if you consider planning a protest preparation for a crime,” Lee said.
The DPP caucus will report the case to the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office, DPP caucus chief secretary Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) said.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) spokesperson Charles Chen (陳以信) yesterday said that the DPP and “some of the civic groups” accusing the state of abuse of power in the Novotel incident are “deliberately distorting the facts.”
Chen denied that the police and national security agents broke into the hotel room.
He called the civic groups who made the allegations “misleading” and said the DPP spread rumors without fact-checking and was “trying to fabricate opposition in society, an attempt that reveals its intention to cause social unrest.”
Chen said the the hotel had reported the checked-in rooms having more occupants than they were supposed to and the entry of “unidentified people” into the rooms and the emergency staircase, and that police had only accompanied hotel staff.
“The facts indicate that all those who went into the room were hotel employees and they did so with legitimate justification. There was no abuse of power by the state apparatus or the police pretending to be hotel staff to break in,” he said. “This is not the first time that the DPP has distorted the facts to smear people and this time they are even trying to incite social disputes. Shouldn’t they apologize to society?”
However, DPP Legislator Yu Mei-nu (尤美女) said that while the Novotel Hotel said it called police in accordance with the Regulations for the Administration of Hotel Enterprises (旅館業管理規則), the origin of the regulations — the floating population registration regulation — had been abolished in 2008 by the National Police Agency.
The Regulations for the Administration of Hotel Enterprises stipulates that hotels should report information on lodgers to the local police department daily and report any “forcible taking of lodging without presenting proper identification documentation.”
In other news, Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) Secretary-General Lin Chih-chia (林志嘉) yesterday said TSU officials and supporters were beaten by unknown assailants they suspected could be gang members when the party protested against Zhang earlier yesterday.
“It seems to us that gangs are governing the country and the police simply ignore it,” Lin said.
WANG RELEASED: A police investigation showed that an organized crime group allegedly taught their clients how to pretend to be sick during medical exams Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) and 11 others were released on bail yesterday, after being questioned for allegedly dodging compulsory military service or forging documents to help others avoid serving. Wang, 33, was catapulted into stardom for his role in the coming-of-age film Our Times (我的少女時代). Lately, he has been focusing on developing his entertainment career in China. The New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office last month began investigating an organized crime group that is allegedly helping men dodge compulsory military service using falsified documents. Police in New Taipei City Yonghe Precinct at the end of last month arrested the main suspect,
Eleven people, including actor Darren Wang (王大陸), were taken into custody today for questioning regarding the evasion of compulsory military service and document forgery, the New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said. Eight of the people, including Wang, are suspected of evading military service, while three are suspected of forging medical documents to assist them, the report said. They are all being questioned by police and would later be transferred to the prosecutors’ office for further investigation. Three men surnamed Lee (李), Chang (張) and Lin (林) are suspected of improperly assisting conscripts in changing their military classification from “stand-by
LITTORAL REGIMENTS: The US Marine Corps is transitioning to an ‘island hopping’ strategy to counterattack Beijing’s area denial strategy The US Marine Corps (USMC) has introduced new anti-drone systems to bolster air defense in the Pacific island chain amid growing Chinese military influence in the region, The Telegraph reported on Sunday. The new Marine Air Defense Integrated System (MADIS) Mk 1 is being developed to counter “the growing menace of unmanned aerial systems,” it cited the Marine Corps as saying. China has constructed a powerful defense mechanism in the Pacific Ocean west of the first island chain by deploying weapons such as rockets, submarines and anti-ship missiles — which is part of its anti-access/area denial (A2/AD) strategy against adversaries — the
Former Taiwan People’s Party chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) may apply to visit home following the death of his father this morning, the Taipei Detention Center said. Ko’s father, Ko Cheng-fa (柯承發), passed away at 8:40am today at the Hsinchu branch of National Taiwan University Hospital. He was 94 years old. The center said Ko Wen-je was welcome to apply, but declined to say whether it had already received an application. The center also provides psychological counseling to people in detention as needed, it added, also declining to comment on Ko Wen-je’s mental state. Ko Wen-je is being held in detention as he awaits trial
RSS