Members of the Wild Strawberry Student Movement yesterday slammed the indictment of National Taiwan University sociology professor Lee Ming-tsung (李明璁) for allegedly violating the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法) during a sit-in last November.
Movement spokesman Chang Chih-hao (張之豪) said the students regretted the development, but said the indictment was “predictable.”
“We realize after months of peaceful protest that this government did not feel any remorse for what they did,” Chang said during an English interview with the Taipei Times. “They still don’t think they have done anything wrong.”
Chang was referring to the manner in which law enforcement officers dealt with demonstrations against the visit of Chinese envoy Chen Yunlin (陳雲林) in November.
Lee was one of the initiators of the sit-in in front of the Executive Yuan on Nov. 6 along with a group of students who dubbed themselves the Wild Strawberry Student Movement. They called on the government to scrap the requirement in the assembly Act that rally organizers must seek government approval before staging a demonstration. Participants were evicted by the police for not applying to hold the sit-in, but reconvened later at National Taiwan Democracy Memorial Hall.
The protesters had demanded that President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) and Premier Liu Chao-shiuan (劉兆玄) apologize and that National Police Agency Director-General Wang Cho-chun (王卓鈞) and then-National Security Bureau director-general Tsai Tsao-ming (蔡朝明) step down for what they called the “excessive force” police used against demonstrators.
Chang said the indictment revealed “the authoritarian mindset” of the government as prosecutors still considered Lee “the chief instigator” of the movement while ignoring the fact that college students in the movement were “well-informed” and could take responsibility for their own actions.
“We were not following Lee. We were following our heart,” Chang said, adding that the students regarded Lee as a “comrade” rather than a “leader.”
Chang said the students would take measures to voice concern about the indictment, but did not elaborate.
The indictment, issued on May 15 by the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office, stated that Lee “is well aware that assembly and parades are prohibited without submitting an application in advance,” but did not do so when he led hundreds of students and civic group members to the sit-in.
Although police officers held up signs several times informing Lee and other demonstrators that their demonstration was in violation of the Act, Lee “refused to heed the warnings given by the police and continued to lead the crowd in protest,” the indictment read.
Prosecutors alleged Lee violated Article 29 of the Act, which states that a leader of demonstrators who refuse to disassemble after being told to do so by authorities may face up to two years in prison.
Lee’s attorney, Kao Yung-cheng (高涌誠), yesterday declined to comment on the indictment.
The combined effect of the monsoon, the outer rim of Typhoon Fengshen and a low-pressure system is expected to bring significant rainfall this week to various parts of the nation, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The heaviest rain is expected to occur today and tomorrow, with torrential rain expected in Keelung’s north coast, Yilan and the mountainous regions of Taipei and New Taipei City, the CWA said. Rivers could rise rapidly, and residents should stay away from riverbanks and avoid going to the mountains or engaging in water activities, it said. Scattered showers are expected today in central and
COOPERATION: Taiwan is aligning closely with US strategic objectives on various matters, including China’s rare earths restrictions, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Taiwan could deal with China’s tightened export controls on rare earth metals by turning to “urban mining,” a researcher said yesterday. Rare earth metals, which are used in semiconductors and other electronic components, could be recovered from industrial or electronic waste to reduce reliance on imports, National Cheng Kung University Department of Resources Engineering professor Lee Cheng-han (李政翰) said. Despite their name, rare earth elements are not actually rare — their abundance in the Earth’s crust is relatively high, but they are dispersed, making extraction and refining energy-intensive and environmentally damaging, he said, adding that many countries have opted to
SUPPLY CHAIN: Taiwan’s advantages in the drone industry include rapid production capacity that is independent of Chinese-made parts, the economic ministry said The Executive Yuan yesterday approved plans to invest NT$44.2 billion (US$1.44 billion) into domestic production of uncrewed aerial vehicles over the next six years, bringing Taiwan’s output value to more than NT$40 billion by 2030 and making the nation Asia’s democratic hub for the drone supply chain. The proposed budget has NT$33.8 billion in new allocations and NT$10.43 billion in existing funds, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said. Under the new development program, the public sector would purchase nearly 100,000 drones, of which 50,898 would be for civil and government use, while 48,750 would be for national defense, it said. The Ministry of
UNITED: The other candidates congratulated Cheng on her win, saying they hoped the new chair could bring the party to victory in the elections next year and in 2028 Former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmaker Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) yesterday won the party’s chair election with 65,122 votes, or 50.15 percent of the votes. It was the first time Cheng, 55, ran for the top KMT post, and she is the second woman to hold the post of chair, following Hung Hsiu-chu (洪秀柱), who served from 2016 to 2017. Cheng is to succeed incumbent Eric Chu (朱立倫) on Nov. 1 for a four-year term. Cheng said she has spoken with the other five candidates and pledged to maintain party unity, adding that the party would aim to win the elections next year and
RSS