Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) spokesperson Huang Di-ying (黃帝穎) yesterday criticized the government and police, saying there was serious encroachment of personal freedom and freedom of the press as police led “violent arrests of students and reporters” after protesters stormed the Ministry of Education building in Taipei late on Thursday.
DPP Legislator Cheng Li-chun (鄭麗君) demanded Minister of Education Wu Se-hwa’s (吳思華) resignation, saying the ministry had overseen “unprecedented violations of freedom of the press.”
Police arrested 33 people after a group stormed the building in protest over adjustments to high-school curriculum guidelines — which critics say were decided on in a “black box” procedure — and ministry officials who continue to ignore requests for dialogue.
Three reporters were among those arrested, including Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister newspaper) photojournalist Liao Chen-huei (廖振輝), who was among the first to arrive after the protesters stormed the building.
While he was taking photographs, he was told by officers that he was to be arrested.
Another reporter, who works for Coolloud Collective (苦勞網) — an online platform dedicated to social activism — was also detained.
Huang said police intervention over the actions of the reporters had no legal basis.
“The Constitution protects the freedom of the press from government intervention to guarantee the autonomy and independence of the media’s role in supervising the government. Restricting reporters’ personal freedom is an attempt to cover up the truth and has seriously violated freedom of the press and obstructed the development of a democratic society,” Huang said.
Press freedom has deteriorated during the administration of President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) according to a Freedom House ranking, Huang said, adding that police had deployed disproportionate force to “evict the media” on March 23 last year during the Sunflower movement, drawing criticism from the International Federation of Journalists.
“The arrests of journalists on Thursday on the pretext of a lack of invitation from the ministry was a flagrant abuse of freedom of the press,” he said.
“The violent treatment by police, the handcuffing of unarmed students and the confiscation of cellphones, and the arrests of the journalists while prohibiting them from using recording equipment was unconstitutional,” Huang added.
“Where should reporters go if not where the news is happening?” Cheng asked.
Police told Cheng that the reporters were under investigation because the ministry has taken legal action against them.
One reporter said he was knocked on the back of the head by police, despite identifying himself as a member of the press.
The Liberty Times Union yesterday also lashed out at the ministry, denouncing its “taking reporters as criminal suspects.”
“The Zhongzeng First Precinct confiscated the reporters’ communication devices, detained them in the building and transported them to a mobile police department for prosecutors to investigate further, a process that assumed the reporters were suspects,” the union said.
“The union severely condemns the action, which is a suspected breach of constitutional rights and an offense against personal freedom. The action has seriously trampled upon freedom of the press,” it said in a statement, calling on the central government and local administrations to revisit standard operating procedures for dealing with social activism.
The Association of Taiwan Journalists said prohibiting reporters from using mobile phones and filing news stories was a serious breach of press freedom and human rights.
“We do not accept the actions of the Taipei Police Department, who passed the buck to the ministry and prosecutors after making the arrests of journalists, even after the reporters had clearly identified themselves,” the association said, adding that it would offer assistance to any of the affected journalists who want to take legal action.
DPP Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) and 13 local governments across the nation affiliated with the party issued a joint statement urging the ministry to not implement the curriculum guidelines as planned, withdraw lawsuits against student protesters and apologize to the public over the issue.
SEND A MESSAGE: Sinking the amphibious assault ship, the lead warship of its class, is meant to show China the US Navy is capable of sinking their ships, an analyst said The US and allied navies plan to sink a 40,000-tonne ship at the latest Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) exercise to simulate defeating a Chinese amphibious assault on Taiwan. This year’s RIMPAC — the 29th iteration of the world’s largest naval exercise — involves the US, 28 partners, more than 25,000 personnel, 40 warships, three submarines and more than 150 aircraft operating in and around Hawaii from yesterday to Aug. 1, the US Navy said in a press release. The major components of the event include multidomain warfare exercises in multiship surface engagements, anti-submarine warfare and multi-axis defense of a carrier strike
Taiwanese could risk being extradited to China when traveling in countries with close ties to Beijing, Taiwan Association of University Professors deputy chairman Chen Li-fu (陳俐甫) said on Friday. Chen’s comments came after China on Friday last week announced new judicial guidelines targeting Taiwanese independence advocates. Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos and Djibouti are among the countries where Taiwanese could risk being extradited to China, he said. The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) on Thursday elevated the travel alert for China, Hong Kong and Macau to “orange” after Beijing announced its guidelines to “severely punish Taiwanese independence diehards for splitting the country and inciting secession.” Extradition treaties
The airspace around Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport and Taipei International Airport (Songshan airport) is to be closed for an hour on July 25 and July 23 respectively, due to the Han Kuang military exercises, the Ministry of National Defense said yesterday. The annual exercise is to be held on Taiwan proper and its outlying islands from July 22 to 26. During last year’s exercise, the military conducted anti-aircraft landing drills at the Taoyuan airport for the first time, for which a one-hour no-fly ban was issued. Based on a live-fire bulletin sent out by the Maritime and Port Bureau, the nation’s
CROSS-BORDER CRIME: The suspects cannot be charged with cybercrime in Indonesia as their targets were in Malaysia, an Indonesian immigration director said Indonesian immigration authorities have detained 103 Taiwanese after a raid at a villa on Bali, officials said yesterday. They were accused of misusing their visas and residence permits, and are suspected of possible cybercrimes, Safar Muhammad Godam, director of immigration supervision and enforcement at the Indonesian Ministry of Law and Human Rights told reporters at a news conference. “The 103 foreign nationals stayed at the villa and conducted suspicious activities, which we suspect are activities related to cybercrime activities,” he said, presenting laptops and routers at the news conference. Godam said Indonesian authorities cannot charge them with conducting cybercrime. “During the inspection, we