Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) yesterday expressed strong support for Taipei’s Zhongzheng First Police Precinct Chief Fang Yang-ning (方仰寧), who faced calls to step down over a ruling that has restricted people’s right to assemble, saying that he would not approve Fang’s verbally offered resignation.
Hau called the protest involving more than 1,000 people outside Fang’s precinct headquarters in downtown on Friday night illegal, saying the city government will not tolerate attacks on government buildings in the future.
As Taipei residents’ tolerance of illegal rallies has reached its limits, so has the strength of the police who have dealt with several rallies and protests recently, Hau said.
Photo: CNA
The crowd, unhappy with the forced dispersal of protesters outside the Legislative Yuan in Taipei early Friday morning, attempted to besiege the Zhongzheng First Police Precinct that evening, sparking a tense standoff and sporadic clashes with officers for about five hours until midnight.
The protesters cited three reasons in demanding that Fang apologize and step down: They said he had reneged on his pledge to refrain from forcibly removing protesters from the square outside the Legislative Yuan, that he unilaterally withdrew the one-month permission granted to the Alliance of Referendum for Taiwan on March 19 to use the road as an assembly location, and said he would never grant the group a permit for a rally.
Protesters shouted: “Fang Yang-ning you are a liar” and “Fang Yang-ning step down,” while holding posters reading “state violence” and “unconstitutional.”
Photo: Wen Yu-teh, Taipei Times
Despite a promise from Fang at 2:30am Friday that the police would not forcibly clear the area, police began picking up members of the Alliance of Referendum for Taiwan and moving them away from the area at 7am.
Protestors asked that Fang meet them to explain his actions.
As the number of protesters grew, hundreds of police officers were deployed to the front gate of the precinct building and riot police were placed on standby.
Some of the protesters scattered ghost money, normally seen as currency for the dead, around the precinct doors.
The standoff lasted until Fang appeared to speak to the public for the third time and said that he had offered a verbal resignation.
“If I had done anything wrong during the morning’s eviction action, I apologized sincerely. The police would grant Alliance of Referendum for Taiwan’s rally permit with leniency and I have offered my resignation to my superiors,” Fang said.
After Fang’s response, the protesters scattered slowly near midnight, but some moved to the Legislative Yuan compound and sat in front of the main entrance. About 30 stayed overnight.
Hau yesterday morning visited the police precinct to give his full backing to Fang.
He said that although the protesters caused major disturbances in the area surrounding the police headquarters, Fang’s decision to stay calm and ultimately allow protesters to disperse slowly was “commendable” and “praiseworthy.”
During the past 24 days of the student-led occupation of the legislative chamber and surrounding areas, Fang had “acted with determination” and “dealt humbly with the student movement,” Hau said.
The eviction on Friday morning was a legal and a “soft eviction,” and there was nothing inappropriate during the action, Hau said.
Hau said that although Fang offered to resign to pacify the public, he will not approve the move because “we could never give in to people who use a method of public trial to force a government official to step down,” Hau said.
He said Friday night’s offenders will be punished in accordance with the law, based on evidence gathered at the police station.
“I hoped that the people could support the police — who carry out their duties by law. We would never tolerate any assault on police precincts or government offices,” he said.
Meanwhile, hundreds of people dressed in white went to the precinct yesterday afternoon to present flowers to Fang, clashing with Sunflower movement supporters.
Messages of support and sympathy for Taipei’s police force have poured in, with a Facebook page set up to back the police collecting over 180,000 “likes” in hours.
A message on the Facebook page asked supporters to say “thank you” to police officers, saying that many had come under stress recently.
In addition to the Facebook attention, flowers were sent to the precinct headquarters yesterday morning by citizens and officials.
Responding to reporters’ questions, President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) said that he “absolutely supports” police actions made in accordance with the law.
Fang’s wife, Chiu Tzu-chen (邱子珍), head of the Women’s and Children’s Protection Division at Taipei City Police Department, said that her husband just followed orders given by his superiors because “we are both civil servants.”
“We will do whatever our superiors want, according to their instructions,” Chiu said.
DETERRENCE: With 1,000 indigenous Hsiung Feng II and III missiles and 400 Harpoon missiles, the nation would boast the highest anti-ship missile density in the world With Taiwan wrapping up mass production of Hsiung Feng II and III missiles by December and an influx of Harpoon missiles from the US, Taiwan would have the highest density of anti-ship missiles in the world, a source said yesterday. Taiwan is to wrap up mass production of the indigenous anti-ship missiles by the end of year, as the Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology has been meeting production targets ahead of schedule, a defense official with knowledge of the matter said. Combined with the 400 Harpoon anti-ship missiles Taiwan expects to receive from the US by 2028, the nation would have
North Korea yesterday fired about 10 ballistic missiles to the sea toward Japan, the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said, days after Pyongyang warned of “terrible consequences” over ongoing South Korea-US military drills. Pyongyang recently dashed hopes of a diplomatic thaw with Seoul, Washington’s security ally, describing its latest peace efforts as a “clumsy, deceptive farce.” Seoul’s military detected “around 10 ballistic missiles launched from the Sunan area in North Korea toward the East Sea [Sea of Japan] at around 1:20pm,” JCS said in a statement, referring to South Korea’s name for the body of water. The missiles
‘UNWAVERING FRIENDSHIP’: A representative of a Japanese group that co-organized a memorial, said he hopes Japanese never forget Taiwan’s kindness President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday marked the 15th anniversary of the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami, urging continued cooperation between Taiwan and Japan on disaster prevention and humanitarian assistance. Lai wrote on social media that Taiwan and Japan have always helped each other in the aftermath of major disasters. The magnitude 9 earthquake struck northeastern Japan on March 11, 2011, triggering a massive tsunami that claimed more than 19,000 lives, according to data from Japanese authorities. Following the disaster, Taiwan donated more than US$240 million in aid, making it one of the largest contributors of financial assistance to Japan. In addition to cash donations and
CLOSER TO CHINA: The upgraded Type-12 missile has a range of about 1,000km, compared with the original model’s range of 200km, and can reach mainland China Japan is preparing to deploy its first batch of domestically developed long-range missiles, with their launchers arriving at an army camp yesterday, as the country accelerates its offensive capability in response to rising challenges in the region. The upgraded Type-12 land-to-ship missiles are to be deployed at Camp Kengun in Japan’s southwestern prefecture of Kumamoto by the end of this month, completing the process of deployment, Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara said without giving details. Army vehicles carrying the launchers and other equipment arrived past midnight in a highly secretive mission criticized by residents. Dozens of people stood outside of the
RSS