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.
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