Fourteen journalists were injured on Saturday night when protesters at the Presidential Office attacked members of the media.
A Chinese-language evening newspaper yesterday reported that the crowd became increasingly hostile toward members of the media around 11pm, demanding that photographers and cameramen stop filming.
PHOTO: LIU HSIN-TEH, TAIPEI TIMES
Noticing that reporters were covering their attempts to pull down the barricades surrounding the Presidential Office, some protesters began voicing concerns that the police would be able to use media images to identify those involved, according to the newspaper.
A few minutes later, protesters started attacking photographers and reporters.
Four staffers from local television networks Era News and Eastern Television (ETTV) were injured. Two reporters had to be hospitalized.
Huang Hsin-hao (黃興浩), a camera man from Era News, needed 20 stitches after being attacked by about 10 protesters. According to Era News, Huang is still in hospital.
Era News and ETTV have both announced that they are planning to take legal action against the attackers.
Although the police have already identified suspects in the attacks on Era News' journalists, they are still trying to determine who attacked the ETTV news crew.
A source at Era News who asked to remain anonymous said that the network was conducting its own investigation.
"Our results so far indicate that the crowd started the conflict. We've been covering the news for so long, our reporters know better than to have said anything that might have been incendiary or provoking," the source said.
"We are all really angry here at Era. Reporters are outside observers. Why would anyone attack them?" he said.
ETTV's official reaction to the attacks was more neutral.
"We regret deeply that this happened. It is unfortunate that the people lost their reason and began to attack the reporters," said Lin Tien-chiung (林天瓊), a deputy editor with ETTV's news bureau.
Both networks pledged that they would keep reporting despite the violent turn in events.
Taipei City spokesman Wu Yu-shen (
"The reporters were standing between the line of police and the crowd in order to give the people objective and factual news. Please do not hit reporters; they should have the respect of both the public and the government," Wu said.
‘NON-RED’: Taiwan and Ireland should work together to foster a values-driven, democratic economic system, leveraging their complementary industries, Lai said President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday expressed hopes for closer ties between Taiwan and Ireland, and that both countries could collaborate to create a values-driven, democracy-centered economic system. He made the remarks while meeting with an Irish cross-party parliamentary delegation visiting Taiwan. The delegation, led by John McGuinness, deputy speaker of the Irish house of representatives, known as the Dail, includes Irish lawmakers Malcolm Byrne, Barry Ward, Ken O’Flynn and Teresa Costello. McGuinness, who chairs the Ireland-Taiwan Parliamentary Friendship Association, is a friend of Taiwan, and under his leadership, the association’s influence has grown over the past few years, Lai said. Ireland is
FINAL COUNTDOWN: About 50,000 attended a pro-recall rally yesterday, while the KMT and the TPP plan to rally against the recall votes today Democracy activists, together with arts and education representatives, yesterday organized a motorcade, while thousands gathered on Ketagalan Boulevard in Taipei in the evening in support of tomorrow’s recall votes. Recall votes for 24 Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers and suspended Hsinchu City mayor Ann Kao (高虹安) are to be held tomorrow, while recall votes for seven other KMT lawmakers are scheduled for Aug. 23. The afternoon motorcade was led by the Spring Breeze Culture and Arts Foundation, the Tyzen Hsiao Foundation and the Friends of Lee Teng-hui Association, and was joined by delegates from the Taiwan Statebuilding Party and the Taiwan Solidarity
A saleswoman, surnamed Chen (陳), earlier this month was handed an 18-month prison term for embezzling more than 2,000 pairs of shoes while working at a department store in Tainan. The Tainan District Court convicted Chen of embezzlement in a ruling on July 7, sentencing her to prison for illegally profiting NT$7.32 million (US$248,929) at the expense of her employer. Chen was also given the opportunity to reach a financial settlement, but she declined. Chen was responsible for the sales counter of Nike shoes at Tainan’s Shinkong Mitsukoshi Zhongshan branch, where she had been employed since October 2019. She had previously worked
An SOS message in a bottle has been found in Ireland that is believed to have come from the Taiwanese captain of fishing vessel Yong Yu Sing No. 18 (永裕興18號), who has been missing without a trace for over four years, along with nine Indonesian crew members. The vessel, registered to Suao (蘇澳), went missing near Hawaii on Dec. 30, 2020. The ship has since been recovered, but the 10 crew members have never been found. The captain, surnamed Lee (李), is believed to have signed the note with his name. A post appeared on Reddit on Tuesday after a man