Tue, Mar 30, 2004 page3

• Ma attacks government over protesters

  DISAGREEMENT The Taipei mayor said the government had been meddling with insignificant matters while there were more pressing concerns that it was ignoring

  • By Jewel Huang / STAFF REPORTER
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  Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) yesterday chastised the central government for trying to intervene in dispersing a crowd that had been protesting in front of the Presidential Office since the March 20 presidential election.

  Ma also accused the central government of neglecting society's demands for the truth about the shooting of President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) while meddling with things that were not within its jurisdiction.

  "The central government rushed to do things that it was not supposed to do, yet it failed to do things that really need to be taken care of," Ma said yesterday.

  Ma, who is also vice chairman of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), said he suspected that the investigative panel that has been set up to investigate the shooting was low level and had little power. He urged Chen to quickly establish an investigative committee.

  State Public Prosecutor-General Lu Jen-fa (盧仁發) has announced that a special independent task force would be established to investigate the shooting.

  "I maintain that an independent and high-level investigative committee should be set up to investigate the shooting, just as the US Supreme Court did when handling the JFK assassination. Only by doing so can people be convinced of the result," Ma said.

  When asked by the media about the events on Saturday night following a huge protest organized by the pan-blue camp, Ma acknowledged that he received two phone calls on Sunday morning at about 1am from Chang Si-liang (張四良), the director-general of the National Police Administration (NPA).

  Ma said Chang offered to act on Ma's behalf to disperse the crowd, which numbered about 1,000 at the time, and had refused to leave Ketagalan Boulevard even though the rally was legally over at 6pm. Ma said he turned down Chang's suggestion.

  Much of the crowd voluntarily moved to the nearby Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall plaza, but a few hundred had to be dragged or pushed away.

  Ma yesterday said that "it was strange for the NPA to have its hand in the dispersion at the last minute."

  "I think it was illegal, unfeasible and unnecessary for the NPA to intervene in the dispersion," Ma said, stressing that the city government had handled the protests for one week and the police and the crowd "had developed a good interaction."

  Besides, the city government had planned to disperse the crowd with placatory measures, he added.

  "I can't imagine what would have happened if the central government had come in at the last minute," Ma said.

  The pan-blue supporters had been blocking Ketagalan Boulevard in front of the Presidential Office for one week after KMT Chairman Lien Chan (連戰) claimed that the presidential election was unfair and that he would file a lawsuit to nullify the election.

  At various points during the week, the crowd had broken the Assembly and Parade Law (集會遊行法), but Ma refused to disperse them and eventually issued permits for them to demonstrate legally.
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