Two pan-green lawmakers cried foul yesterday as prosecutors launched an investigation into three lawmakers and a talk show host to see whether they violated the Assembly and Parade Law (
Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) Legislator Lo Chih-ming (
Police said that they would question the three legislators and talk-show host, who allegedly climbed onto a check-in counter to address the crowd of Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Lien Chan (
PHOTO: CHANG CHIA-MING, TAIPEI TIMES
Lo said that it was unfair to investigate only lawmakers from the pan-green camp,
"I don't have any problem with prosecutors' conducting an investigation into my actions, but it is only fair for them to do the same to New Party members and those violent gangsters," he said.
"I highly suspect that it has a lot to do with our publicly criticizing the DPP government and calling on the public to attend the protest," he said.
If his act deserves an investigation, Lo said that those who were staging a protest at the CKS International Airport when TSU Chairman Shu Chin-chiang (
"There simply cannot be a double standard," he said.
Lo also criticized President Chen Shui-bian's (
"If what we do is inciting violence, then President Chen and Premier Frank Hsieh (
TSU Legislator Yin Ling-ying said that she is proud of what Lo did and that she and other TSU are willing to be investigated.
Painting the prosecutors' move as another "White Terror," TSU Legislator Ho Min-hao (何敏豪) said that the investigation is aimed at placating the pan-blue camp.
Wang said that although he welcomes any investigation into his conduct, he said that it is his given right to stage a protest against Lien's trip to China.
"If I, as a Taiwanese, had decided to keep silent, stay home and do nothing about it, I would rather have died," he said.
Apparently upset by criticism voiced by fellow lawmakers that his protest was to gain media exposure and aimed at grandstanding, Wang announced that he would immediately withdraw from all operations of his caucus.
Wang, however, eventually changed his mind after DPP caucus whip Lai Ching-te (
Taiwanese were praised for their composure after a video filmed by Taiwanese tourists capturing the moment a magnitude 7.5 earthquake struck Japan’s Aomori Prefecture went viral on social media. The video shows a hotel room shaking violently amid Monday’s quake, with objects falling to the ground. Two Taiwanese began filming with their mobile phones, while two others held the sides of a TV to prevent it from falling. When the shaking stopped, the pair calmly took down the TV and laid it flat on a tatami mat, the video shows. The video also captured the group talking about the safety of their companions bathing
US climber Alex Honnold is to attempt to scale Taipei 101 without a rope and harness in a live Netflix special on Jan. 24, the streaming platform announced on Wednesday. Accounting for the time difference, the two-hour broadcast of Honnold’s climb, called Skyscraper Live, is to air on Jan. 23 in the US, Netflix said in a statement. Honnold, 40, was the first person ever to free solo climb the 900m El Capitan rock formation in Yosemite National Park — a feat that was recorded and later made into the 2018 documentary film Free Solo. Netflix previewed Skyscraper Live in October, after videos
Starting on Jan. 1, YouBike riders must have insurance to use the service, and a six-month trial of NT$5 coupons under certain conditions would be implemented to balance bike shortages, a joint statement from transportation departments across Taipei, New Taipei City and Taoyuan announced yesterday. The rental bike system operator said that coupons would be offered to riders to rent bikes from full stations, for riders who take out an electric-assisted bike from a full station, and for riders who return a bike to an empty station. All riders with YouBike accounts are automatically eligible for the program, and each membership account
A classified Pentagon-produced, multiyear assessment — the Overmatch brief — highlighted unreported Chinese capabilities to destroy US military assets and identified US supply chain choke points, painting a disturbing picture of waning US military might, a New York Times editorial published on Monday said. US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth’s comments in November last year that “we lose every time” in Pentagon-conducted war games pitting the US against China further highlighted the uncertainty about the US’ capability to intervene in the event of a Chinese invasion of Taiwan. “It shows the Pentagon’s overreliance on expensive, vulnerable weapons as adversaries field cheap, technologically
RSS