Anti-curriculum changes student activist Chen Po-yu (陳柏瑜) yesterday said he and other activists have received court summons from the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office to answer criminal charges on Thursday next week for acts of protest, even though the Ministry of Education had pledged to drop the charges.
Chen, a vocational high-school student from Yilan County, participated in the break-in and occupation of the Ministry of Education’s complex on July 23 to protest against the ministry’s new textbook curriculum guidelines, which they say are China-centric and lack objectivity.
Thirty-three people, including activists and three reporters, were arrested and charged with criminal trespassing on a private residence, obstruction and vandalism.
Photo: Chien Hui-ju, Taipei Times
The ministry later promised to drop the charges as part of its negotiations with anti-curriculum changes activists, a promise that Chen yesterday said the summons has cast into doubt.
“Were the charges not dropped? Why are they not doing what they promised?” he asked, adding that he was “disappointed” by the ministry’s “flip-flopping.”
Chen said the charges were nonsensical, adding that the ministry’s complex is not a “private residence,” that the protesters did not obstruct the police or offer resistance in any way and no property was damaged during their occupation.
The anti-curriculum activists’ lawyer, Wellington Koo (顧立雄), said he and his team would comment on the specifics of the charges after the prosecutors had clarified them in court, because the tersely worded court document only cited “criminal obstruction and other charges.”
Koo added that he had worried about the possibility of government deception when the ministry announced it would drop charges, and that those worries now appear justified.
Humanist Education Foundation executive director and member of the Anti-Curriculum Changes Alliance Joanna Feng (馮喬蘭) called on the ministry to make good on its claim that it was acting in the students’ best interests when it pledged to drop the charges, adding that it is too late for the ministry to “pretend it is a bystander.”
In response, Deputy Minister of Education Lin Teng-chiao (林騰蛟) said that the ministry has dropped all civil charges against the activists, but the Taipei Prosecutors’ Office is responsible for prosecuting criminal charges, such as obstruction.
The Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office declined comment.
Additional reporting by Rachel Lin
One of two tropical depressions that formed off Taiwan yesterday morning could turn into a moderate typhoon by the weekend, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Tropical Depression No. 21 formed at 8am about 1,850km off the southeast coast, CWA forecaster Lee Meng-hsuan (李孟軒) said. The weather system is expected to move northwest as it builds momentum, possibly intensifying this weekend into a typhoon, which would be called Mitag, Lee said. The radius of the storm is expected to reach almost 200km, she said. It is forecast to approach the southeast of Taiwan on Monday next week and pass through the Bashi Channel
The number of Chinese spouses applying for dependent residency as well as long-term residency in Taiwan has decreased, the Mainland Affairs Council said yesterday, adding that the reduction of Chinese spouses staying or living in Taiwan is only one facet reflecting the general decrease in the number of people willing to get married in Taiwan. The number of Chinese spouses applying for dependent residency last year was 7,123, down by 2,931, or 29.15 percent, from the previous year. The same census showed that the number of Chinese spouses applying for long-term residency and receiving approval last year stood at 2,973, down 1,520,
EASING ANXIETY: The new guide includes a section encouraging people to discuss the threat of war with their children and teach them how to recognize disinformation The Ministry of National Defense’s All-Out Defense Mobilization Agency yesterday released its updated civil defense handbook, which defines the types of potential military aggression by an “enemy state” and self-protection tips in such scenarios. The agency has released three editions of the handbook since 2022, covering information from the preparation of go-bags to survival tips during natural disasters and war. Compared with the previous edition, released in 2023, the latest version has a clearer focus on wartime scenarios. It includes a section outlining six types of potential military threats Taiwan could face, including destruction of critical infrastructure and most undersea cables, resulting in
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday said that it expected to issue a sea warning for Typhoon Ragasa this morning and a land warning at night as it approached Taiwan. Ragasa intensified from a tropical storm into a typhoon at 8am yesterday, the CWA said, adding that at 2pm, it was about 1,110km east-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost tip. The typhoon was moving northwest at 13kph, with sustained winds of up to 119kph and gusts reaching 155kph, the CWA Web site showed. Forecaster Liu Pei-teng (劉沛滕) said that Ragasa was projected to strengthen as it neared the Bashi Channel, with its 200km