Five members of the Chinese Unity Promotion Party (CUPP) were yesterday indicted for allegedly attacking and injuring several university students during protests at a music festival in September.
The “Sing! China: Shanghai-Taipei Music Festival,” a result of memorandums of understanding on cultural and arts events signed by Taipei and Shanghai in 2010 and 2014 respectively, was scheduled to run eight hours on Sept. 24 at National Taiwan University’s (NTU) athletic field in Taipei, but was canceled after two hours due to protests by students, who said the school failed to prioritize their right to use campus facilities.
Following the cancelation, three students were allegedly assaulted by CUPP members.
Photo: Chang Chia-ming, Taipei Times
The Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office yesterday indicted the five CUPP members on charges including assault resulting in injury, uttering threats and destruction of personal property.
The five included Chang Wei (張瑋), the second son of CUPP founder Chang An-le (張安樂), also known as the “White Wolf,” a former leader of the Bamboo Union gang who is known for supporting Taiwan’s unification with China.
The other four are Hu Ta-kang (胡大剛), Yang Shao-jui (楊紹瑞), Wang Shao-bin (王啟鑌) and Lin Shao-tse (林紹哲), who allegedly used metal rods to attack the students and protesters outside the music festival.
Prosecutors also indicted one protester, Lee Po-chang (李柏璋), who allegedly argued and fought with the CUPP members, causing facial injuries to Yang and breaking a pair of eyeglasses.
Lee, who is known for his outspoken pro-Taiwan independence views, has been nicknamed the “Machine Gun of Taiwanese Independence.”
Among the most severe casualties from the incident was NTU student Chang Keng-wei (張耿維), who was struck on the back of the head.
Investigators said that a video filmed by a bystander showed Hu approaching Chang Keng-wei from behind and striking him several times on the head and other parts of his body with a collapsible metal rod.
They added that the video showed Hu angrily confronting Lee’s girlfriend, who was filming the attack with her smartphone, telling her: “Don’t come any closer. If you do, I’ll hit you as well.”
Investigators said the video also shows Chang Wei apparently directing the attack by pointing with his hands and shouting instructions to CUPP members when they confronted the protesters outside the NTU campus.
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