Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) yesterday dared a member of the pro-unification Concentric Patriotism Association to “try that again and see what happens,” after seeing a video apparently showing the woman kicking at a police officer outside the Taipei 101 building.
The video clip, posted on YouTube on Thursday, stoked public ire, with netizens calling on the new mayor to make good on a campaign promise to rein in the group, which is known for its opposition to the Falun Gong movement.
Ko said the nation should not be controlled by big corporations or people who resort to violence.
Photo: YouTube
The clip, titled: “Please have them arrested: a true record of the Concentric Patriotism Association’s insane attack on Jan. 19,” shows association member Zhang Xiuye (張秀葉) carrying a Chinese national flag, shouting and kicking at a police officer.
“So I kicked you? Go ahead and sue me,” Zhang says while kicking at an officer standing in front of her.
She turns to the camera and adds: “Sue me, you coward.”
“I will keep persecuting the pigs no matter what,” she yells.
“It would be no use for you to replace even 10 Xinyi District (信義) police chiefs,” she says, in an apparent reference to Ko’s pre-election public admonition of former Xinyi District police chief Lee Te-wei (李德威), who applied for early retirement soon after Ko was sworn in as mayor.
Ko had threatened to fire Lee, saying the police department needed to prevent the association from attacking Falun Gong practitioners, who often stage sedentary demonstrations outside Taipei 101, which is a popular destination for tourists from China.
“I don’t know where you pigs came from,” Zhang says in the video, apparently in response to comments from people looking on.
“I was sent by the Chinese Communist Party [CCP],” she says. “Is Taipei 101 the only place where the CCP could send its people?”
“[Do you think] the CCP has no money?” she says. “I have tons. I can station my people all over Taiwan.”
Association head Zhou Qinjun (周慶峻) can be seen in the clip carrying a video camera.
“This is a Chinese place,” he says.
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