Activists yesterday accused the government of abuse of power after a group of “unidentified people” charged into their rooms at the Novotel Hotel in Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport and demanded that they move out before China’s Taiwan Affairs Office Minister Zhang Zhijun (張志軍) was to meet his Taiwanese counterpart, Mainland Affairs Council Minister Wang Yu-chi (王郁琦), at the hotel.
Rights activist and attorney Lai Chung-chiang (賴中強) condemned the government and Novotel over the hotel’s treatment of him as a guest.
“Because of the meeting between Wang and Zhang, we were deprived of our freedom for more than 10 hours,” Lai told the crowd after he was released by the police a little after 7pm. “How many more of our human rights and freedoms should be sacrificed for Zhang? Or to make Beijing happy?”
Photo: Chou Min-hung, Taipei Times
“I have booked the rooms through the regular reservation system and paid for the rooms, so, legally, they are the same as a private home during the period. The police and the hotel staff had no right to do what they did,” he said.
Lai said he booked two rooms for two nights and checked into the hotel on Tuesday night.
However, police and hotel staff knocked on his door at about 9am yesterday, asking them to vacate the rooms, saying there might be “security concerns.”
Photo: Chu Pei-hsiung, Taipei Times
They returned later and forcibly broke into the rooms, saying that since there is only person registered for each room, all other people must leave.
“That doesn’t make sense at all. Isn’t it common practice around the world that only one person needs to register his or her name for a room?” Lai said. “Therefore we refused to leave.”
Another person in the room, Chien Nien-yu (簡年祐), said that the police and hotel staff pretended it was room service the first time they knocked on the door.
Lai said he and six other members of Democracy Tautin were planning to hang protest banners from the windows of their hotel rooms when Zhang arrived, “but we didn’t mean to interrupt the meeting, and it’s our freedom or expression to do what we planned to do as long as we don’t bother people.”
Since the hotel staff and the police failed to have them vacate the rooms before Zhang’s arrival, more than a dozen police officers stood guard outside the rooms, prohibiting them from leaving when the meeting started.
By telephone, the Taipei Times overheard the conversation between Lai and the hotel staff.
When Lai asked if they could leave at 6:15pm, the staff member said: “You have to wait until a little later to leave.”
When Lai turned to a police officer, saying he would like to file a lawsuit of breach of freedom of movement, the officer said Lai must follow him to another place to make the report.
The seven in the room were forced into police cars at 6:57pm. They were released and greeted by a crowd of protesters outside at 7:05pm.
Hours after the incident and with the picture of a broken door latch and the video of hotel staff breaking into the hotel rooms going viral on the Internet, 13 civic groups jointly organized a press conference condemning the state intrusion.
A hotel room booked by a customer is tantamount to the personal residence, said Greg Yo (尤伯祥), a lawyer and member of the Judicial Reform Foundation.
“My house is my castle. This is a principle of freedom and safety of residence that has been finally established after years of authoritarian rule in Taiwan. However, this line has been crossed by the government’s action this morning. What the government is telling the public by its action is that it has no concern whatsoever for such a red line... Then [its] next step would be taking people away on the street without justification,” Yo said.
Foundation executive director Kao Jung-chih (高榮志) attributed the police’s abuse of power to the prosecutors’ connivance, the court’s negligence and the failure of judicial authorities to take on the responsibility of checks and balances.
In response to the complaints, the police said it was hotel staff who broke into the rooms of the guests and that the police happened to be at the site and filmed the whole process.
The National Security Bureau also denied in a press release that its agents were involved in the “break-in” incident, saying the bureau was only in charge of the security of designated individuals.
Additional reporting by Alison Hsiao, Chris Wang and CNA
DEFENDING DEMOCRACY: Taiwan shares the same values as those that fought in WWII, and nations must unite to halt the expansion of a new authoritarian bloc, Lai said The government yesterday held a commemoration ceremony for Victory in Europe (V-E) Day, joining the rest of the world for the first time to mark the anniversary of the end of World War II in Europe. Taiwan honoring V-E Day signifies “our growing connections with the international community,” President William Lai (賴清德) said at a reception in Taipei on the 80th anniversary of V-E Day. One of the major lessons of World War II is that “authoritarianism and aggression lead only to slaughter, tragedy and greater inequality,” Lai said. Even more importantly, the war also taught people that “those who cherish peace cannot
Taiwanese Olympic badminton men’s doubles gold medalist Wang Chi-lin (王齊麟) and his new partner, Chiu Hsiang-chieh (邱相榤), clinched the men’s doubles title at the Yonex Taipei Open yesterday, becoming the second Taiwanese team to win a title in the tournament. Ranked 19th in the world, the Taiwanese duo defeated Kang Min-hyuk and Ki Dong-ju of South Korea 21-18, 21-15 in a pulsating 43-minute final to clinch their first doubles title after teaming up last year. Wang, the men’s doubles gold medalist at the 2020 and 2024 Olympics, partnered with Chiu in August last year after the retirement of his teammate Lee Yang
The Philippines yesterday criticized a “high-risk” maneuver by a Chinese vessel near the disputed Scarborough Shoal (Huangyan Island, 黃岩島) in a rare incident involving warships from the two navies. The Scarborough Shoal — a triangular chain of reefs and rocks in the contested South China Sea — has been a flash point between the countries since China seized it from the Philippines in 2012. Taiwan also claims the shoal. Monday’s encounter took place approximately 11.8 nautical miles (22km) southeast” of the Scarborough Shoal, the Philippine military said, during ongoing US-Philippine military exercises that Beijing has criticized as destabilizing. “The Chinese frigate BN 554 was
The number of births in Taiwan fell to an all-time monthly low last month, while the population declined for the 16th consecutive month, Ministry of the Interior data released on Friday showed. The number of newborns totaled 8,684, which is 704 births fewer than in March and the lowest monthly figure on record, the ministry said. That is equivalent to roughly one baby born every five minutes and an annual crude birthrate of 4.52 per 1,000 people, the ministry added. Meanwhile, 17,205 deaths were recorded, resulting in a natural population decrease of 8,521, the data showed. More people are also leaving Taiwan, with net
RSS