The arrest of three journalists on Thursday for entering the Ministry of Education building to cover a protest over proposed adjustments to high-school curriculum guidelines could muzzle the freedom of the press, one of those arrested said yesterday.
Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister newspaper) photographer Liao Chen-huei (廖振輝), Coolloud Collective reporter Sung Hsiao-hai (宋小海) and freelance journalist Lin Yu-yo (林雨佑) were among 33 people detained by police for entering the building on Thursday night. The journalists were put under house arrest after each refused to post bail of NT$10,000 on Friday.
“I saw students breaking into [the ministry’s headquarters], and I instinctively thought that it might be a repetition of the Sunflower movement,” Liao said. “As a reporter, how could I not follow them to witness a historic moment?”
Photo: Chen Chih-chu, Taipei Times
The Sunflower movement was a 23-day student-led protest during which protesters occupied the main legislative chamber last year. The protest was over what critics called the government’s opaque handling of a service trade agreement with China.
Liao said he was at the site to cover protests in front of the building on Thursday night, adding that he followed protesters who entered the building, photographing events as they unfolded, including the initial arrests.
An officer tried to persuade him and the other two journalists to keep away while officers were making the arrests, Liao said.
However, they were allowed to remain until an officer, seemingly the commander on the scene, told them that the police had to arrest and detain students and reporters alike because the ministry insisted on filing charges against all intruders, Liao said, adding that the three journalists were not allowed to access their cellphones or laptops.
The police confiscated Liao’s cellphone, and his request to call the Liberty Times office to say he was safe was denied by police, who told Liao that they had to ask a supervisor for permission.
Liao said he did not know whether the officers had relayed his request, adding that he was not allowed to make any calls during the first few hours of his detention.
Liao asked why they were being treated like criminals when reporters were allowed into the Legislative Yuan during the Sunflower protests.
Police violence against reporters could easily lead to a chilling conclusion, he said.
Asked if he would cover protesters breaking into restricted sites again, despite spending a day in custody and facing a legal battle, Liao said: “I would definitely follow [protesters] and go where they go.”
“We need more reporters [at such occurences] so the government does not dare abuse its power and infringe on the freedom of the press,” he said.
Sung said that after being arrested, the three journalists were kept in the ministry’s lobby, with SWAT officers standing guard.
“I asked an officer: If we are being arrested, could we contact lawyers? However, the officer said he had to ask his supervisor,” Sung said. “We waited for more than an hour before someone said that the ministry would be pressing charges. However, when we were transferred to police headquarters at about 2am, the police said they had to make sure the ministry really wanted to take legal action.”
Lin said that when he was taking pictures before being arrested, officers tried to prevent him from doing so by covering his camera and threatening to arrest him for obstructing officers of the law.
“If the police were acting according to the law, why were they so afraid of journalists and protesters recording everything? What is the legal basis for the police to stop journalists and protesters from taking pictures?” Lin said.
Additional reporting by Loa Iok-sin
‘ABUSE OF POWER’: Lee Chun-yi allegedly used a Control Yuan vehicle to transport his dog to a pet grooming salon and take his wife to restaurants, media reports said Control Yuan Secretary-General Lee Chun-yi (李俊俋) resigned on Sunday night, admitting that he had misused a government vehicle, as reported by the media. Control Yuan Vice President Lee Hung-chun (李鴻鈞) yesterday apologized to the public over the issue. The watchdog body would follow up on similar accusations made by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and would investigate the alleged misuse of government vehicles by three other Control Yuan members: Su Li-chiung (蘇麗瓊), Lin Yu-jung (林郁容) and Wang Jung-chang (王榮璋), Lee Hung-chun said. Lee Chun-yi in a statement apologized for using a Control Yuan vehicle to transport his dog to a
BEIJING’S ‘PAWN’: ‘We, as Chinese, should never forget our roots, history, culture,’ Want Want Holdings general manager Tsai Wang-ting said at a summit in China The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday condemned Want Want China Times Media Group (旺旺中時媒體集團) for making comments at the Cross-Strait Chinese Culture Summit that it said have damaged Taiwan’s sovereignty, adding that it would investigate if the group had colluded with China in the matter and contravened cross-strait regulations. The council issued a statement after Want Want Holdings (旺旺集團有限公司) general manager Tsai Wang-ting (蔡旺庭), the third son of the group’s founder, Tsai Eng-meng (蔡衍明), said at the summit last week that the group originated in “Chinese Taiwan,” and has developed and prospered in “the motherland.” “We, as Chinese, should never
‘A SURVIVAL QUESTION’: US officials have been urging the opposition KMT and TPP not to block defense spending, especially the special defense budget, an official said The US plans to ramp up weapons sales to Taiwan to a level exceeding US President Donald Trump’s first term as part of an effort to deter China as it intensifies military pressure on the nation, two US officials said on condition of anonymity. If US arms sales do accelerate, it could ease worries about the extent of Trump’s commitment to Taiwan. It would also add new friction to the tense US-China relationship. The officials said they expect US approvals for weapons sales to Taiwan over the next four years to surpass those in Trump’s first term, with one of them saying
INDO-PACIFIC REGION: Royal Navy ships exercise the right of freedom of navigation, including in the Taiwan Strait and South China Sea, the UK’s Tony Radakin told a summit Freedom of navigation in the Indo-Pacific region is as important as it is in the English Channel, British Chief of the Defence Staff Admiral Tony Radakin said at a summit in Singapore on Saturday. The remark came as the British Royal Navy’s flagship aircraft carrier, the HMS Prince of Wales, is on an eight-month deployment to the Indo-Pacific region as head of an international carrier strike group. “Upholding the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, and with it, the principles of the freedom of navigation, in this part of the world matters to us just as it matters in the