More than 300 supporters of decriminalizing sex work took part in a scooter parade in Taipei's Wanhua and Datung districts yesterday.
One of their demands was for the city government to stop using policemen as bait to "fish" for prostitutes engaging in sexual transactions.
"Fishers" is a slang term used by prostitutes to refer to policemen who pretend to be patrons and seek to arrest suspects engaging in illegal sexual transactions.
PHOTO: CHENG HSUEH-YUNG, TAIPEI TIMES
Supporters also demanded that Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (
"Even though Ma was trying to differentiate himself from Chen Shui-bian, what he did was simply to amend the policy a little, but it is filled with hypocrisy," said the statement issued by the Collective of Sex Workers and Supporters.
Other social groups also joined the event. Wang Huei-woan (王慧婉), vice chairman of the Grassroots Teachers' Association, said the association also supported the cause because sex is a legitimate need of humans.
"As educators, we think that it is better to lay out everything on the table rather than using hypocrisy and lies to cover up the reality," Wang said.
In addition to the parade, organizers also put on skits mocking the government for playing "number politics" by taking on individual prostitutes to raise its arrest figures.
A magnitude 6.4 earthquake struck off the coast of Hualien County in eastern Taiwan at 7pm yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The epicenter of the temblor was at sea, about 69.9km south of Hualien County Hall, at a depth of 30.9km, it said. There were no immediate reports of damage resulting from the quake. The earthquake’s intensity, which gauges the actual effect of a temblor, was highest in Taitung County’s Changbin Township (長濱), where it measured 5 on Taiwan’s seven-tier intensity scale. The quake also measured an intensity of 4 in Hualien, Nantou, Chiayi, Yunlin, Changhua and Miaoli counties, as well as
Credit departments of farmers’ and fishers’ associations blocked a total of more than NT$180 million (US$6.01 million) from being lost to scams last year, National Police Agency (NPA) data showed. The Agricultural Finance Agency (AFA) said last week that staff of farmers’ and fishers’ associations’ credit departments are required to implement fraud prevention measures when they serve clients at the counter. They would ask clients about personal financial management activities whenever they suspect there might be a fraud situation, and would immediately report the incident to local authorities, which would send police officers to the site to help, it said. NPA data showed
ENERGY RESILIENCE: Although Alaska is open for investments, Taiwan is sourcing its gas from the Middle East, and the sea routes carry risks, Ho Cheng-hui said US government officials’ high-profile reception of a Taiwanese representative at the Alaska Sustainable Energy Conference indicated the emergence of an Indo-Pacific energy resilience alliance, an academic said. Presidential Office Secretary-General Pan Men-an (潘孟安) attended the conference in Alaska on Thursday last week at the invitation of the US government. Pan visited oil and gas facilities with senior US officials, including US Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum, US Secretary of Energy Chris Wright, Alaska Governor Mike Dunleavy and US Senator Daniel Sullivan. Pan attending the conference on behalf of President William Lai (賴清德) shows a significant elevation in diplomatic representation,
The Taipei MRT is to begin accepting mobile payment services in the fall, Taipei Rapid Transit Corp said on Saturday. When the company finishes the installation of new payment units at ticketing gates in October, MRT passengers can use credit cards, Apple Pay, Google Pay and Samsung Pay, the operator said. In addition, the MRT would also provide QR payment codes — which would be compatible with Line Pay, Jkopay, iPass Money, PXPay Plus, EasyWallet, iCash Pay, Taiwan Pay and Taishin Pay — to access the railway system. Currently, passengers can access the Taipei MRT by buying a single-journey token or using EasyCard,
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