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.
CALL FOR SUPPORT: President William Lai called on lawmakers across party lines to ensure the livelihood of Taiwanese and that national security is protected President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday called for bipartisan support for Taiwan’s investment in self-defense capabilities at the christening and launch of two coast guard vessels at CSBC Corp, Taiwan’s (台灣國際造船) shipyard in Kaohsiung. The Taipei (台北) is the fourth and final ship of the Chiayi-class offshore patrol vessels, and the Siraya (西拉雅) is the Coast Guard Administration’s (CGA) first-ever ocean patrol vessel, the government said. The Taipei is the fourth and final ship of the Chiayi-class offshore patrol vessels with a displacement of about 4,000 tonnes, Lai said. This ship class was ordered as a result of former president Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) 2018
UKRAINE, NVIDIA: The US leader said the subject of Russia’s war had come up ‘very strongly,’ while Jenson Huang was hoping that the conversation was good Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) and US President Donald Trump had differing takes following their meeting in Busan, South Korea, yesterday. Xi said that the two sides should complete follow-up work as soon as possible to deliver tangible results that would provide “peace of mind” to China, the US and the rest of the world, while Trump hailed the “great success” of the talks. The two discussed trade, including a deal to reduce tariffs slapped on China for its role in the fentanyl trade, as well as cooperation in ending the war in Ukraine, among other issues, but they did not mention
HOTEL HIRING: An official said that hoteliers could begin hiring migrant workers next year, but must adhere to a rule requiring a NT$2,000 salary hike for Taiwanese The government is to allow the hospitality industry to recruit mid-level migrant workers for housekeeping and three other lines of work after the Executive Yuan yesterday approved a proposal by the Ministry of Labor. A shortage of workers at hotels and accommodation facilities was discussed at a meeting of the legislature’s Transportation Committee. A 2023 survey conducted by the Tourism Administration found that Taiwan’s lodging industry was short of about 6,600 housekeeping and cleaning workers, the agency said in a report to the committee. The shortage of workers in the industry is being studied, the report said. Hotel and Lodging Division Deputy Director Cheng
‘SECRETS’: While saying China would not attack during his presidency, Donald Trump declined to say how Washington would respond if Beijing were to take military action US President Donald Trump said that China would not take military action against Taiwan while he is president, as the Chinese leaders “know the consequences.” Trump made the statement during an interview on CBS’ 60 Minutes program that aired on Sunday, a few days after his meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) in South Korea. “He [Xi] has openly said, and his people have openly said at meetings, ‘we would never do anything while President Trump is president,’ because they know the consequences,” Trump said in the interview. However, he repeatedly declined to say exactly how Washington would respond in
RSS