More than 20 protesters — including local residents and 14 student supporters — who staged a peaceful sit-in demonstration against a wind turbine project in Yuanli Township (苑裡), Miaoli County, were handcuffed and taken away by police yesterday.
“I didn’t do anything wrong, why should I go with you?” a protester surnamed Lin (林) said as she was dragged away from the wind turbine construction site by the police.
Although the woman — as well as the other protesters — was not involved in any act of violence and did not resist when dragged away by the police, she was allegedly pushed to the ground by several police officers with their knees and had both her arms twisted around behind her back before being handcuffed.
Photo: Chang hsun-teng, Taipei Times
Police ignored her complaints that her arms hurt and she could hardly breathe after being pushed to the ground, saying only: “Nothing will happen to you if you don’t move.”
Lin’s case was not an isolated incident — all the other protesters who refused to leave the site were handcuffed and several were beaten with batons.
About 20 people were arrested and were transferred to Miaoli District Prosecutors’ Office. At press time, an injunction had been issued against 14 of the protesters.
Yesterday’s incident was the second in which police employed handcuffs and batons against peaceful protesters, after a similar incident at the turbine construction site on Saturday.
On Saturday, when one of the protesters who escaped arrest showed up at the Tongsiao Police Precinct where the arrested protesters were detained, an amateur video showed an unidentified senior officer yelling at him, telling him to go away, saying: “This is my place, not yours” and “go ahead and file a complaint against me.”
Usually in Miaoli, peaceful protesters are only taken into police vehicles nearby and released after the protest is over, and only those who are involved in violent acts, such as attacking officers or breaking the police line, are referred to the judiciary.
Facing criticism from the public, the Tongsiao Police Precinct defended its actions, saying that the protesters were handcuffed because they were “caught red-handed.”
Yuanli residents said that although they support green energy in principle, they were protesting against the InfraVest GmbH’s wind turbine project out of concern it might affect their quality of life, because some turbines are only 250m from their homes.
In his National Day Rally speech on Sunday, Singaporean Prime Minister Lawrence Wong (黃循財) quoted the Taiwanese song One Small Umbrella (一支小雨傘) to describe his nation’s situation. Wong’s use of such a song shows Singapore’s familiarity with Taiwan’s culture and is a perfect reflection of exchanges between the two nations, Representative to Singapore Tung Chen-yuan (童振源) said yesterday in a post on Facebook. Wong quoted the song, saying: “As the rain gets heavier, I will take care of you, and you,” in Mandarin, using it as a metaphor for Singaporeans coming together to face challenges. Other Singaporean politicians have also used Taiwanese songs
NORTHERN STRIKE: Taiwanese military personnel have been training ‘in strategic and tactical battle operations’ in Michigan, a former US diplomat said More than 500 Taiwanese troops participated in this year’s Northern Strike military exercise held at Lake Michigan by the US, a Pentagon-run news outlet reported yesterday. The Michigan National Guard-sponsored drill involved 7,500 military personnel from 36 nations and territories around the world, the Stars and Stripes said. This year’s edition of Northern Strike, which concluded on Sunday, simulated a war in the Indo-Pacific region in a departure from its traditional European focus, it said. The change indicated a greater shift in the US armed forces’ attention to a potential conflict in Asia, it added. Citing a briefing by a Michigan National Guard senior
CHIPMAKING INVESTMENT: J.W. Kuo told legislators that Department of Investment Review approval would be needed were Washington to seek a TSMC board seat Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) yesterday said he received information about a possible US government investment in Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) and an assessment of the possible effect on the firm requires further discussion. If the US were to invest in TSMC, the plan would need to be reviewed by the Department of Investment Review, Kuo told reporters ahead of a hearing of the legislature’s Economics Committee. Kuo’s remarks came after US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick on Tuesday said that the US government is looking into the federal government taking equity stakes in computer chip manufacturers that
CLAMPING DOWN: At the preliminary stage on Jan. 1 next year, only core personnel of the military, the civil service and public schools would be subject to inspections Regular checks are to be conducted from next year to clamp down on military personnel, civil servants and public-school teachers with Chinese citizenship or Chinese household registration, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday. Article 9-1 of the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例) stipulates that Taiwanese who obtain Chinese household registration or a Chinese passport would be deprived of their Taiwanese citizenship and lose their right to work in the military, public service or public schools, it said. To identify and prevent the illegal employment of holders of Chinese ID cards or
RSS