Taipei Rapid Transit Corp on Thursday said it has adopted a zero violence policy against its employees, adding that any verbal or physical violence against them would be reported to the police.
The operator of the MRT railway serving metropolitan Taipei said that after COVID-19 curbs were eased, the number of violent incidents against its personnel increased along with passenger numbers.
From the beginning of the year until Thursday, there had been 10 incidents involving verbal harassment or threats against its employees, the company said.
Photo: CNA
Most of the incidents occurred when station personnel asked MRT passengers to abide by the rules or involved drunk passengers, it said.
One incident involved a drunk person who entered a station without a mask before the mask requirement was eased on April 17, it said.
Station personnel asked the person to put on a mask, but the person refused, insulted staff and injured them, the company said.
They were escorted out of the station by MRT and local police, the company said, adding that the injured staff filed a complaint about the drunk person with police.
Station staff are obligated to remind passengers to abide by the regulations, the company said, urging passengers not to overreact when they are addressed by staff.
The company said that if people act irrationally, issue verbal threats or become violent, it reserves the right to refuse service to them.
Any such act would be reported to MRT police and local police, it said.
Station staff could respond to violence by spraying the aggressor with aerosol self-defense sprays, while MRT information desks are equipped with batons and shields, it said.
The company said it holds regular training sessions for all station staff to ensure they have a basic understanding of self-defense techniques.
A Vietnamese migrant worker on Thursday won the NT$12 million (US$383,590) jackpot on a scratch-off lottery ticket she bought from a lottery shop in Changhua County’s Puyan Township (埔鹽), Taiwan Lottery Co said yesterday. The lottery winner, who is in her 30s and married, said she would continue to work in Taiwan and send her winnings to her family in Vietnam to improve their life. More Taiwanese and migrant workers have flocked to the lottery shop on Sec 2 of Jhangshuei Road (彰水路) to share in the luck. The shop owner, surnamed Chen (陳), said that his shop has been open for just
Global bodies should stop excluding Taiwan for political reasons, President William Lai (賴清德) told Pope Francis in a letter, adding that he agrees war has no winners. The Vatican is one of only 12 countries to retain formal diplomatic ties with Taiwan, and Taipei has watched with concern efforts by Beijing and the Holy See to improve ties. In October, the Vatican and China extended an accord on the appointment of Catholic bishops in China for four years, pointing to a new level of trust between the two parties. Lai, writing to the pope in response to the pontiff’s message on Jan. 1’s
TAKE BREAKS: A woman developed cystitis by refusing to get up to use the bathroom while playing mahjong for fear of disturbing her winning streak, a doctor said People should stand up and move around often while traveling or playing mahjong during the Lunar New Year holiday, as prolonged sitting can lead to cystitis or hemorrhoids, doctors said. Yuan’s General Hospital urologist Lee Tsung-hsi (李宗熹) said that he treated a 63-year-old woman surnamed Chao (趙) who had been sitting motionless and holding off going to the bathroom, increasing her risk of bladder infection. Chao would drink beverages and not urinate for several hours while playing mahjong with friends and family, especially when she was on a winning streak, afraid that using the bathroom would ruin her luck, he said. She had
MUST REMAIN FREE: A Chinese takeover of Taiwan would lead to a global conflict, and if the nation blows up, the world’s factories would fall in a week, a minister said Taiwan is like Prague in 1938 facing Adolf Hitler; only if Taiwan remains free and democratic would the world be safe, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Francois Wu (吳志中) said in an interview with Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera. The ministry on Saturday said Corriere della Sera is one of Italy’s oldest and most read newspapers, frequently covers European economic and political issues, and that Wu agreed to an interview with the paper’s senior political analyst Massimo Franco in Taipei on Jan. 3. The interview was published on Jan. 26 with the title “Taiwan like Prague in 1938 with Hitler,” the ministry
RSS