Antigovernment protesters lashed out at judicial officials for not investigating police officers accused of using excessive force in their response to Sunflower movement protests in March and April last year.
“We will shoulder whatever responsibilities we must and we accept the charges against us, but I regret that those police officers who cracked down on protesters using excessive force have not been pursued,” Lai Pin-yu (賴品妤), a law student at National Taipei University and a member of the Black Island National Youth Front, said at a news conference yesterday. Lai was among the first protesters who seized the legislative floor on March 18 last year.
“Police brutality was clearly caught on video and in photographs, but the National Police Agency said that they could not identify those officers,” Lai said. “It is quite odd that the police could identify unknown protesters, but they could not find out who the officers were when they should have information about the officers.”
Photo: Chien Jung-fong, Taipei Times
Protesting against the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) attempt to pass a cross-strait service trade agreement — widely considered harmful to Taiwan’s economy and sovereignty — at the legislature, a group of mainly young activists entered the Legislative Yuan complex and occupied the main legislative chamber for more than 20 days.
On March 23 last year, thousands of people dissatisfied with the government’s reaction to the occupation of the legislature ralied, while a few entered the Executive Yuan complex and occupied it until they were removed by police officers on the morning of March 24.
Then-premier Jiang Yi-huah (江宜樺) ordered that the Cabinet complex be cleared before office hours; police officers executed the order with what some observers describe as excessive force, with dozens of alleged incidents of police brutality involving protesters and reporters.
Dennis Wei (魏揚), who occupied the Executive Yuan, agreed with Lai.
“There are many controversial laws restraining civil liberties; we challenge these laws with civil disobedience, with the objective of improving these laws,” he said. “We surely are willing to accept our legal responsibilities, but those in power should also honestly face our challenges.”
Volunteer attorney Huang Di-ying (黃帝穎) said the prosecutions are politically motivated.
Academia Sinica research fellow Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) was charged with “incitement to committ offenses” for making a statement in support of the protesters, lauding them as defending Taiwan’s democracy after the occupation of the legislature, Huang said.
“However, for Jiang, who ordered brutal attacks on protesting students and professors, nothing happened to him and instead, he is now hired as presidential adviser,” Huang added.
“The judiciary is turning a blind eye to high-ranking officials; this is what we would call selective prosecution and political prosecution,” Huang said.
Hung Chung-yen (洪崇晏), who led a demonstration outside Taipei’s Zhongzheng First Police Precinct headquarters on April 11 last year, chastised police and the judiciary over the prosecutions of online supporters for the demonstrators.
“The state is trying to shut us up with threats; it is like the White Terror once again,” Hung said.
‘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
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
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