A group of seven activists yesterday said they would take legal action against police and Novotel Hotel staff they say were involved in a raid of the activists’ hotel room on June 26 at the hotel chain’s Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport venue.
The group asserts that police broke into their room illegally and restricted their movement for more than 10 hours in a bid to prevent them from protesting a meeting between China’s Taiwan Affairs Office Minister Zhang Zhijun (張志軍) and his Taiwanese counterpart, Mainland Affairs Council Minister Wang Yu-chi (王郁琦).
Netizens have dubbed the action “room service,” referring to video footage provided by the activists in which an unidentified voice purportedly belonging to a police officer is heard shouting the phrase before police entered the room.
Human rights lawyer Kao Yung-cheng (高涌誠) heads the team of volunteer lawyers that have taken up the case.
Kao said the group is demanding compensation from the state and that it would press charges against the police for what it says are offenses against personal liberties and abuse of power.
Kao said the activists would also take legal action against Novotel staff for failing to protect their clients’ privacy, thereby breaching their contract. Three hotel employees were present at the incident, allegedly including hotel general manager Eric Rimbeuf.
Lai Chung-Chiang (賴中強), one of the activists involved and a lawyer himself, demanded an official apology from Novotel.
“We would hate to see our government and private enterprises sacrifice Taiwan’s human rights and values to pander to China,” he said.
Greg Yo (尤伯祥), one of the volunteer lawyers, said incidences of police brutality have risen since the 2008 visit of China’s former Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits Chairman Chen Yunlin (陳雲林).
Taipei and New Taipei City government officials are aiming to have the first phase of the Wanhua-Jungho-Shulin Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) line completed and opened by 2027, following the arrival of the first train set yesterday. The 22km-long Light Green Line would connect four densely populated districts in Taipei and New Taipei City: Wanhua (萬華), Jhonghe (中和), Tucheng (土城) and Shulin (樹林). The first phase of the project would connect Wanhua and Jhonghe districts, with Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall and Chukuang (莒光) being the terminal stations. The two municipalities jointly hosted a ceremony for the first train to be used
MILITARY AID: Taiwan has received a first batch of US long-range tactical missiles ahead of schedule, with a second shipment expected to be delivered by 2026 The US’ early delivery of long-range tactical ballistic missiles to Taiwan last month carries political and strategic significance, a military source said yesterday. According to the Ministry of National Defense’s budget report, the batch of military hardware from the US, including 11 sets of M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS) and 64 MGM-140 Army Tactical Missile Systems, had been scheduled to be delivered to Taiwan between the end of this year and the beginning of next year. However, the first batch arrived last month, earlier than scheduled, with the second batch —18 sets of HIMARS, 20 MGM-140 missiles and 864 M30
Representative to the US Alexander Yui delivered a letter from the government to US president-elect Donald Trump during a meeting with a former Trump administration official, CNN reported yesterday. Yui on Thursday met with former US national security adviser Robert O’Brien over a private lunch in Salt Lake City, Utah, with US Representative Chris Stewart, the Web site of the US cable news channel reported, citing three sources familiar with the matter. “During that lunch the letter was passed along, and then shared with Trump, two of the sources said,” CNN said. O’Brien declined to comment on the lunch, as did the Taipei
A woman who allegedly attacked a high-school student with a utility knife, injuring his face, on a Taipei metro train late on Friday has been transferred to prosecutors, police said yesterday. The incident occurred near MRT Xinpu Station at about 10:17pm on a Bannan Line train headed toward Dingpu, New Taipei City police said. Before police arrived at the station to arrest the suspect, a woman surnamed Wang (王) who is in her early 40s, she had already been subdued by four male passengers, one of whom was an off-duty Taipei police officer, police said. The student, 17, who sustained a cut about