Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislator yesterday lashed out at the Taipei City Government for allowing an "indefinite, round-the-clock" sit-in to be staged in front of the Presidential Office to unseat President Chen Shui-bian (
A group led by former DPP chairman Shih Ming-teh (施明德) has filed an application with the city government for the right to stage a demonstration on the boulevard in front of the Presidential Office between Aug. 23 and Sept. 17 to pressure Chen to step down over alleged corruption.
Although an open-ended 24-hour demonstration has never been permitted before, Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), who is also chairman of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), has hinted that this application was approved because the country's public assembly law does not set any time limit on protest activities.
DPP Legislator Wang Shih-cheng (
Chaotic
He ridiculed Ma by asking him whether all people who apply to hold demonstrations or sits-in in Taipei would be allowed to conduct them indefinitely and round-the-clock from here on.
Wang said Ma should bear responsibility for whatever might occur during the sit-in.
DPP Legislator Lin Kuo-ching (林國慶) criticized Ma for "letting Taiwan's capital become a chaotic place where there is no justice and people cannot tell right from wrong."
Ma yesterday denied that the city government had given Shih special treatment by relaxing restrictions on the normal protest deadline of 10pm, stressing that the Assembly and Parade Law (集會遊行法) does not stipulate any protest deadline.
"I haven't made any promises to anyone on the matter ? The approval of the Shih Ming-teh camp's sit-in was based on legal proc-edure," Ma said, adding that the power to approve the protest resided with the public works bureau and the police department.
"I have nothing to do with the department's decision [to grant the protest permit]," he said.
In response to the People First Party's (PFP) criticism that Ma has allowed Shih's sit-in to be staged round-the-clock, but two years ago ordered local police to disperse the anti-Chen protest led by former KMT chairman Lien Chan (連戰) and PFP Chairman James Soong (宋 楚瑜) in the wake of the 2004 presidential election, KMT Spokesman Huang Yu-chen (黃玉振) said that the police dispersed the crowd because of violent acts at the scene.
"What the police were trying to stop is violence, not the protest," he said.
Special treatment
As a symbolic gesture to protest Shih's "special treatment," Taiwan Solidarity Union's (TSU) Taipei mayoral candidate Clara Chou (
Chou said her rally, which will be staged from Aug. 28 to Sept. 26 in front of the Taipei City Hall, is aimed at protest against the city government's ignorance of the plight of unemployed residents and other disadvantage groups.
The public works bureau said it will grant the permit if no other groups applied to stage a protest in the same area, but noted that final approval resides with the police department.
INCREASED CAPACITY: The flights on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays would leave Singapore in the morning and Taipei in the afternoon Singapore Airlines is adding four supplementary flights to Taipei per week until May to meet increased tourist and business travel demand, the carrier said on Friday. The addition would raise the number of weekly flights it operates to Taipei to 18, Singapore Airlines Taiwan general manager Timothy Ouyang (歐陽漢源) said. The airline has recorded a steady rise in tourist and business travel to and from Taipei, and aims to provide more flexible travel arrangements for passengers, said Ouyang, who assumed the post in July last year. From now until Saturday next week, four additional flights would depart from Singapore on Monday, Wednesday, Friday
The Ministry of National Defense yesterday reported the return of large-scale Chinese air force activities after their unexplained absence for more than two weeks, which had prompted speculation regarding Beijing’s motives. China usually sends fighter jets, drones and other military aircraft around the nation on a daily basis. Interruptions to such routine are generally caused by bad weather. The Ministry of National Defense said it had detected 26 Chinese military aircraft in the Taiwan Strait over the previous 24 hours. It last reported that many aircraft on Feb. 25, when it spotted 30 aircraft, saying Beijing was carrying out another “joint combat
Taiwan successfully defended its women’s 540 kilogram title and won its first-ever men’s 640 kg title at the 2026 World Indoor Tug of War Championships in Taipei yesterday. In the women’s event, Taiwan’s eight-person squad reached the final following a round-robin preliminary round and semifinals featuring teams from Ukraine, Japan, Thailand, Vietnam, the Basque Country and South Korea. In the finals, they swept the Basque team 2-0, giving the team composed mainly of National Taiwan Normal University students and graduates its second championship in a row, and its fourth in five years. Team captain
When Paraguayan opposition lawmaker Leidy Galeano returned from an all-expenses-paid tour of six Chinese cities late last year, she was convinced Paraguay risked missing out on major economic gains by sticking with longtime ally Taipei over Beijing — a message that participants on the trip heard repeatedly from Chinese officials. “Everything I saw there, I wanted for my country,” said Galeano, a member of the newly-formed Yo Creo party whose senior figures have spoken favorably about China. This trip and others like it — which people familiar with the visits said were at the invitation of the Chinese consulate in Sao Paulo
RSS