Taiwanese Falun Gong practitioners yesterday accused the French police of violating their rights and harassing them while visiting France during the Lunar New Year.
According to the Taiwan Falun Dafa Institute, over 170 Taiwanese Falun Gong practitioners went to Paris to celebrate the Lunar New Year with their fellow practitioners.
On Jan. 26, several dozen devotees were arrested simply because they were wearing Falun Gong's yellow scarves on the streets of Paris, the institute said.
"We don't understand why the French police made these arrests, and we feel sorry that the whole incident occurred," secretary-general Hung Chi-hung (洪吉弘) said.
Hung and other Falun Gong practitioners also visited the Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday afternoon to protest the conduct of the French police and urged the ministry to communicate with the French government over the incident.
They said the arrests were an infringement of their human rights, and demanded the French government investigate the incident and apologize to Falun Gong members.
The institute's press release also quoted a Ms Fan, a reporter who had apparently been mistaken for a Falun Gong practitioner. When Fan was arrested a police officer allegedly told her: "Falun Gong is legal during normal times, but it is illegal today."
Chung Cheng (
"I arrived in Paris on Jan. 20, and I took a small Falun Gong flag with me to the Chinese Embassy on Jan. 21. At that time no police officers or employees from the embassy told me it was illegal," he said.
"But when I took the flag to the embassy again on Jan. 26, I was arrested. I asked the police why they arrested me, and they told me it was because of the flag," he said.
Chung said that he was arrested at around 7pm and taken to a police station. But the police did not put him behind bars or ask for a statement, instead leaving him to sit in the station. At around 11pm, Chung said, the police told him he was free to go, but his flag was not returned.
The arrests coincided with Chinese President Hu Jintao's (
Earlier this month, the Falun Gong group said they had been barred from joining a parade on the Champs Elysees to celebrate the Lunar New Year.
They claimed that the authorities had been acting under pressure from the Chinese embassy in Paris.
Eight restaurants in Taiwan yesterday secured a one-star rating from the Michelin Guide Taiwan for the first time, while three one-star restaurants from last year’s edition were promoted to two stars. Forty-three restaurants were awarded one star this year, including 34 in Taipei, five in Taichung and four in Kaohsiung. Hosu (好嶼), Chuan Ya (川雅), Sushi Kajin (鮨嘉仁), aMaze (心宴), La Vie by Thomas Buhner, Yuan Yi (元一) and Frassi in Taipei and Front House (方蒔) in Kaohsiung received a one-star rating for the first time. Hosu is known for innovative Taiwanese dishes, while Chuan Ya serves Sichuan cuisine and aMaze specializes
STATS: Taiwan’s average life expectancy of 80.77 years was lower than that of Japan, Singapore and South Korea, but higher than in China, Malaysia and Indonesia Taiwan’s average life expectancy last year increased to 80.77 years, but was still not back to its pre-COVID-19 pandemic peak of 81.32 years in 2020, the Ministry of the Interior said yesterday. The average life expectancy last year increased the 0.54 years from 2023, the ministry said in a statement. For men and women, the average life expectancy last year was 77.42 years and 84.30 years respectively, up 0.48 years and 0.56 years from the previous year. Taiwan’s average life expectancy peaked at 81.32 years in 2020, as the nation was relatively unaffected by the pandemic that year. The metric
Taitung County is to launch charter flights to Malaysia at the end of this year, after setting up flights to Vietnam and Thailand, the Taitung County Government said yesterday. The new charter flight services, provided by low-cost carrier Batik Air Malaysia, would be part of five-day tour packages for visits to Taitung County or Malaysia. The Batik Air charter flight, with about 200 seats, would take Malaysian tourists to Taitung on Dec. 30 and then at 12:35pm return to Kuala Lumpur with Taiwanese tourists. Another charter flight would bring the Taiwanese home on Jan. 3 next year, arriving at 5:30pm, before taking the
Taiwan High Speed Rail Corp. (THSRC) plans to ease strained capacity during peak hours by introducing new fare rules restricting passengers traveling without reserved seats in 2026, company Chairman Shih Che (史哲) said Wednesday. THSRC needs to tackle its capacity issue because there have been several occasions where passengers holding tickets with reserved seats did not make it onto their train in stations packed with individuals traveling without a reserved seat, Shih told reporters in a joint interview in Taipei. Non-reserved seats allow travelers maximum flexibility, but it has led to issues relating to quality of service and safety concerns, especially during
RSS