A university professor who was arrested on Tuesday during a protest over the forced demolition of houses in Dapu Borough (大埔) in Miaoli County’s Jhunan Township (竹南) accused national security authorities of instructing police to use excessive force against protesters and urged President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) administration to stop enforcing repressive controls over its people.
“Most of Taipei City’s police officers were nice to me and I believe they were forced by national security authorities to handle the protest with violence. It’s the national security authorities that are uncivilized,” National Chengchi University professor Hsu Shih-jung (徐世榮) said at the Taipei City Council.
Hsu was pulled away by police officers on Tuesday afternoon while shouting the slogan: “[You] knock down houses in Dapu today; [we] tear down the government tomorrow” at Ma’s motorcade as the president arrived at the Ministry of Health and Welfare on Tacheng Street in Taipei.
Photo: Liao Chen-huei, Taipei Times
The police dragged him to a police car and sent him to the Shilin District Prosecutors’ Office, saying that he had violated the Public Safety Act (公共危險罪).
He was released at about 10:30pm because of what police said was a “lack of evidence.”
Showing bruises on his arms, Hsu said he cooperated with the police officers who asked him to leave the restricted area during the protest. However, the police arrested him and pulled him away as he walked out of the area while chanting the slogan.
While he was being dragged away, one police officer questioned the rude and violent acts against him, asking another officer to stop such violent treatment, Hsu said.
“Police officers in Taipei City are quite civilized. I don’t understand why President Ma and national security authorities cannot let the police officers enforce laws with dignity,” he said.
To support Hsu and other protesters’ rights to freedom of speech and assembly, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Taipei City caucus urged the government to adjust its handling of protests and stop creating tension between the police and the public.
DPP Taipei City Councilor Hsu Chia-ching (徐佳青) said the Taipei City Police Department’s Datong branch had received orders to carry out a regular traffic control plan at the health ministry. However, it received an emergency instruction on Tuesday morning to expand restricted areas. The department’s Zhongcheng First branch also sent police officers to the site after the national security authorities decided to enhance security measures.
“The Ma administration has turned the nation into a police state, with Ma sending national security personnel to arrest whoever protests against him,” she said.
Undaunted, a group of students held a protest across the street from the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) headquarters yesterday afternoon.
Carrying placards that read: “Treacherous government forcefully demolished houses in Dapu,” the protesters shouted at Ma’s motorcade as he arrived at the KMT headquarters to preside over the party’s Central Standing Committee.
Police officers set up fences in front of the buildings to keep protesters from getting close to the party headquarters, and pulled a young woman away as she tried to enter the building.
A protester who wore a mask accused the police of violating the public’s rights to use the roads by blocking traffic around Bade Road, and questioned the legitimacy of such excessive policing.
“There are more than 100 police officers here today to handle such a small group of people. In a democratic society, the government should be afraid of its people, not the other way around,” he said.
Ma later left the party headquarters without commenting on the protest.
Commenting on the clashes and arrests on Tuesday, the DPP said the government’s behavior has reached the level of state violence and has reminded Taiwanese of the KMT’s authoritarian past.
In addition to Hsu, National Taiwan University students Hung Chung-yen (洪崇晏) and Lu Chih-hung (盧其宏) were arrested by police.
“I cannot describe how angry the DPP is with an administration that has betrayed its own pledge, demolishing houses in Miaoli when the villagers were protesting in Taipei and deploying police to arrest whoever shouts slogans along the president’s way,” DPP Chairman Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) said.
“It does not take surveys from international institutions to tell us that democracy in Taiwan has been backsliding. We can tell from what we saw that the ghost of the KMT’s authoritarian and dictatorial past is back,” he added.
DPP spokesperson Lin Chun-hsien (林俊憲) said National Security Bureau Director Tsai Der-sheng (蔡得勝) should be held responsible for stepping beyond his authority by ordering violent measures against civilian protesters, which Lin said was illegal and unconstitutional.
The DPP also announced it was organizing a group of volunteer lawyers to provide legal assistance to villagers in Dapu, as well as those who suffered from the government’s injustice.
Meanwhile, the DPP caucus yesterday demanded that the Taipei City Police Department submit the roster of police officers on duty on Tuesday within a week and said it would file lawsuits against law enforcement officials.
Speaking at a press conference, DPP Legislator Wu Ping-jui (吳秉叡), a former judge, said prosecutors’ release of all detainees without bail showed that the police had abused their power and made arrests without sufficient evidence.
Former premier Yu Shyi-kun, who formerly served as Yilan County commissioner, said that while the government always loved to say it “administers by law,” it should not administer by state violence.
Taiwan is gearing up to celebrate the New Year at events across the country, headlined by the annual countdown and Taipei 101 fireworks display at midnight. Many of the events are to be livesteamed online. See below for lineups and links: Taipei Taipei’s New Year’s Party 2026 is to begin at 7pm and run until 1am, with the theme “Sailing to the Future.” South Korean girl group KARA is headlining the concert at Taipei City Hall Plaza, with additional performances by Amber An (安心亞), Nick Chou (周湯豪), hip-hop trio Nine One One (玖壹壹), Bii (畢書盡), girl group Genblue (幻藍小熊) and more. The festivities are to
Auckland rang in 2026 with a downtown fireworks display launched from New Zealand’s tallest structure, Sky Tower, making it the first major city to greet the new year at a celebration dampened by rain, while crowds in Taipei braved the elements to watch Taipei 101’s display. South Pacific countries are the first to bid farewell to 2025. Clocks struck midnight in Auckland, with a population of 1.7 million, 18 hours before the famous ball was to drop in New York’s Times Square. The five-minute display involved 3,500 fireworks launched from the 240m Sky Tower. Smaller community events were canceled across New Zealand’s
‘SLICING METHOD’: In the event of a blockade, the China Coast Guard would intercept Taiwanese ships while its navy would seek to deter foreign intervention China’s military drills around Taiwan this week signaled potential strategies to cut the nation off from energy supplies and foreign military assistance, a US think tank report said. The Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) conducted what it called “Justice Mission 2025” exercises from Monday to Tuesday in five maritime zones and airspace around Taiwan, calling them a warning to “Taiwanese independence” forces. In a report released on Wednesday, the Institute for the Study of War said the exercises effectively simulated blocking shipping routes to major port cities, including Kaohsiung, Keelung and Hualien. Taiwan would be highly vulnerable under such a blockade, because it
UNDER WAY: The contract for advanced sensor systems would be fulfilled in Florida, and is expected to be completed by June 2031, the Pentagon said Lockheed Martin has been given a contract involving foreign military sales to Taiwan to meet what Washington calls “an urgent operational need” of Taiwan’s air force, the Pentagon said on Wednesday. The contract has a ceiling value of US$328.5 million, with US$157.3 million in foreign military sales funds obligated at the time of award, the Pentagon said in a statement. “This contract provides for the procurement and delivery of 55 Infrared Search and Track Legion Enhanced Sensor Pods, processors, pod containers and processor containers required to meet the urgent operational need of the Taiwan air force,” it said. The contract’s work would be
RSS