The campaign demanding President Chen Shui-bian's (陳水扁) resignation, which has lasted more than three weeks, has created unbearable strain on the police force and harmed the public interest, Minister of the Interior Lee Yi-yang (李逸洋) said yesterday following the death of a senior police officer on Sunday.
Police Captain Liu Tien-hsia (劉天下), chief of the Criminal Investigation Department of Yunlin County's Huwei (虎尾) branch, died of a stroke while on duty during an anti-Chen demonstration.
"Since the anti-Chen campaign began, police officers have been unable to take any time off. We feel terrible about what happened to Officer Liu. He couldn't sleep at night because he had a toothache, but he couldn't take a break either," Lee said.
Lee made the remarks while briefing lawmakers about the impact of Shih Ming-teh's (施明德) anti-Chen campaign on the police force.
"We call on Shih Ming-teh not to make his campaign an endless one. Otherwise, in the long run, it will have serious consequences for social stability," Lee said.
Lee said that deploying police officers to maintain order at anti-Chen protests had influenced the police force's ability to combat crime.
"Some 63,000 of the police force's 67,700 police officers have been used to maintain order since the anti-Chen campaign started. If there were no such protests, we could have prevented about 500 more crimes from taking place," Lee said.
Citing the limited number of police officers in Taipei City, Lee urged Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (
"About half of the policemen used to maintain order during anti-Chen protests in Taipei were sent from other cities or counties," Lee said.
Meanwhile, eight Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislators announced yesterday that members of the DPP caucus will each donate a day's pay to Liu's family.
DPP Legislator Lee Ming-Hsien (
"Your requests have been heard. Please end the tour so that the police officers can take a break," he said, addressing Shih directly.
Lee called on Shih to respect the judicial system and leave the investigation of alleged corruption scandals involving the president and his family to Prosecutor Eric Chen (
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
CHINA REACTS: The patrol and reconnaissance plane ‘transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,’ the 7th Fleet said, while Taipei said it saw nothing unusual The US 7th Fleet yesterday said that a US Navy P-8A Poseidon flew through the Taiwan Strait, a day after US and Chinese defense heads held their first talks since November 2022 in an effort to reduce regional tensions. The patrol and reconnaissance plane “transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,” the 7th Fleet said in a news release. “By operating within the Taiwan Strait in accordance with international law, the United States upholds the navigational rights and freedoms of all nations.” In a separate statement, the Ministry of National Defense said that it monitored nearby waters and airspace as the aircraft
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique