The Executive Yuan yesterday said than a criminal investigation had been launched into a group of pan-blue lawmakers who led supporters on a violent rampage outside the Central Election Commission (CEC) on Friday night.
People First Party (PFP) legislators, including Lee Ching-hua (
The protesters shouted, "Truth unclear, suspend declaration; down with the commission," and smashed windows at the entrance before forcing their way inside. They also threw rocks and eggs and scuffled with police.
PFP Legislator Fu Kun-chi (
"The lawmakers who led the crowd to break into the CEC yesterday to attempt to stop the official announcement of the winners of the election have broken the Assembly and Parade Law (集會遊行法) and the Criminal Code. The judiciary has finished gathering evidence and has started to investigate the case," Cabinet Spokesman Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said.
Lin said that Premier Yu Shyi-kun had instructed the judiciary to investigate the incident yesterday.
Lin said that the damage to CEC property and threat to civil servants who were carrying out their duties yesterday was a violation of the Criminal Code, and that lawbreakers could be sentenced up to three years.
"Some pan-blue legislators broke the law intentionally and gathered a crowd to cause a riot. This is a wrong example for democracy and everything will be investigated according to the law," Lin said.
Meanwhile, the Cabinet also set up a special task force, headed by the premier, to deal with the pan-blue's mass demonstration yesterday.
Yu said that the administration should monitor the demonstration closely, and that there was no space for China's intervention in Taiwan's domestic affairs.
He also instructed the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to keep in close contact with the US and Japan, and to hold international press conferences whenever necessary.
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
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
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
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