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Protesters besiege `319' committee as they visit Tainan

Protesters yesterday surrounded the Tainan District Prosecutors' Office and tried to prevent the special task force investigating the shooting of the president from entering the building.

March 19 Shooting Truth Investigation Special Committee (三一九槍擊事件真相調查特別委員會) Spokeswoman Wang Ching-fong (王清峰) visited chief prosecutor Kuo Chen-ni (郭珍妮), prosecutor Wang San-jung (王森榮) and their staff at around 2pm and left around 5:30pm.

Neither the committee nor the Tainan District Prosecutors' Office disclosed the details of their conversation during the meeting.

As the meeting took place, screaming protesters attacked police officers and tried to break into the prosecutors' office, throwing raw eggs and other items at the police.

No major injuries were reported.

In addition to protesters, politicians from both the pan-blue and pan-green camps -- a number of whom are campaigning in the year-end legislative elections -- joined the fracas.

"I would urge the public to calm down and let law enforcement officers do their jobs," said Minister of Justice Chen Ding-nan (陳定南).

Prior to Wang Ching-fong's visit to the office, the committee also invited the National Police Agency's Criminal Investigation Bureau Commissioner Hou You-yi (侯友宜) to its Taipei office to brief committee members.

Hou did not show up and did not give an excuse for his absence. However, Wang Ching-fong said Hou's absence was not surprising.

"He [Hou] must have been suffering from political pressure from his superior officers and decided not to come. That I understand, and I forgive him," Wang Ching-fong said. "But, I am still sorry about his decision."

According to Wang Ching-fong, she called the bureau for confirmation of Hou's plan to attend the meeting previously, and "everything seemed to be fine" when she called.

"In addition to confirmation of his attendence, the officer who talked to me also asked me what kind of documents or evidence the committee would need when it met with Hou," Wang Ching-fong said. "But, Hou eventually decided to be absent."

In response to the committee's statement, Kao Cheng-sheng (高政昇), the bureau's deputy commissioner, spoke on behalf of Hou and said that for this case, the bureau would obey whatever orders or directions were given by the Tainan District Prosecutors' Office.

If prosecutors ask them to cooperate with the committee, they will do so, Kao said.

"When our forensic analysis was done, we transferred everything to the Tainan prosecutors. As a result, our investigation is currently under their jurisdiction," Kao said.

In addition, Kao also said that police officers could be impeached by the Control Yuan in the future for their cooperation with committee members, if the Council of Grand Justices determines that the committee is illegal.

"The situation is not fair for the police," he said.

"Until the law is fixed, I think most police officers will try to protect themselves, first," Kao added.
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