Why did police attack Chou?
In the small hours of Monday morning, when riot police violently expelled the students who broke into the Executive Yuan, one small figure stood in front of the police, trying to protect the unarmed students from harm.
This small figure was Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) Legislator Chou Ni-an (周倪安).
However, a riot policeman used his shield to attack her and when she fell, the police even trampled on her chest.
The attack fractured the bone beneath the lawmaker’s right eye and she was hospitalized.
Chou has tried her best to protect the students from getting hurt by the police since the first night protesters rose up against President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) dictatorship.
She wore a vest showing the TSU logo and her identity as a lawmaker. When the riot police attacked her they could see it and they knew quite well that they were attacking a lawmaker.
This is an atrocity by the ruling machine of Ma. It is no less heinous than those of the Maidan butchers in Kiev or those of Tiananmen Square in 1989.
People may ask why the protesters rose up.
First, they were angered by Ma’s insistence on the passage of the trade pact between Taiwan and China, by his arrogance and by his denial of basic human rights.
These are also the reasons the students chose to occupy the legislative chamber.
The students were even more incensed by Ma’s blatant lies to the media at the international press conference in the morning they broke into the Legislative Yuan.
In fact, the students chanted “peace” as their main slogan.
They were empty-handed, let alone carrying any weapons. And at the time the riot police launched the attack, most students just sat on the ground.
However, the police still used cudgels and high-pressure water cannons to attack the students and protesters.
The protesters are absolutely not rioters. The real rioters are in fact the riot police.
Nonetheless, the riot police were nothing but the criminal tools of Ma. Ma is the real black hand behind the scene. He is the real principal conspirator.
Unfortunately, during the past three decades, Taiwan has never really democratized; the rulers have scarcely followed the rule of law.
Ma is the worst such ruler.
The police still do not acknowledge that they take their pay from the taxpayers, whom they should really serve.
The protesters, including the students, are our compatriots. They are not the enemies of the police.
It is Ma who has made all this trouble.
He is the main culprit. He is the one who bears all the responsibility.
He is also the one who should pay.
Chia Tek-khiam
Taipei,
Member of International Federation of Journalists and Taiwan Association of Journalists
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