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Taipei officials clarify handling of sit-in protest

Wearing traditional ghost masks and T-shirts that read ``A-Bian Out,'' anti-President Chen Shui-bian protesters gesture during a protest outside the legislature yesterday. PHOTO: AP

The concern over public order during the planned anti-President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) sit-in and the challenges it is posing for the Taipei City Government were evident yesterday as city officials scrambled to explain how possible violence or other illegal activity would be handled.

The anti-Chen sit-in organized by former Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) chairman Shih Ming-teh (施明德) is scheduled to begin on Sept. 9 on Ketagalan Boulevard in front of the Presidential Office.

While the city's police department has revoked its initial permission for Shih camp's to stage a round-the-clock sit-in, organizers have said the demonstration will continue even after the traditional protest deadline of 10pm.

The DPP's Taipei City Council caucus has demanded the city government explain its strategy for keeping order during the protest.

In response, the police department said yesterday that it would follow the Assembly and Parade Law (集會遊行法) and demand the protesters leave the boulevard after the protest deadline.

"We will ask the protesters to leave. If they refuse to leave, then we will give warnings and disperse the crowd according to the procedures laid out in the law," Deputy Police Chief Wang Yung-hui (王永惠) said during a press conference at the Taipei City Council.

Taipei's Law and Regulation Commissioner Chen Ching-hsiu (陳清秀), however, said dispersing the crowd would be unnecessary if protesters were simply "resting at the rally site" and their presence did not affect traffic or public safety.

"The police could also use persuasion to stop the crowd from making noise. They don't have to give warnings or disperse the protesters," Chen said.

Challenged by DPP councilors Hsu Chia-ching (徐佳青) and Lu Ying-ying (呂瀅瀅) to explain the city government's contradictory positions, Wang repeated that the police would follow the law and had not excluded the possibility of using force to disperse the protesters.

Chen Ching-hsiu later said the Law and Regulation Committee was just offering advice from a legal perspective and the right to exercise the law belonged to the police department.

Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) said yesterday that the police should make the final decision.

Meanwhile, the city's Department of Cultural Affairs said it had warned Shih's camp over plans to decorate the Jing Fu Men (景福門), a historical monument, with red cloth, cautioning them not to violate the Cultural Heritage Preservation Act (文化資產保存法).

The department said it was dispatching staffers to monitor the site on a 24-hour basis to prevent the old gate from being damaged.

"We will not allow them to hang or put anything directly on the building. The camp will need to file an application if they plan to set up anything around the monument," department division chief Wang Yi-chuan (王逸群) said yesterday.

The Shih camp announced on Wednesday that it would wrap the gate with 20m-high red cloth and make it the "spiritual fortress" of its demonstration.

Wang Yi-chuan said that plan would affect the appearance of the monument and so violate the act.

If the organizer plans to set up any campaign signs or decorations around the monument, it is required to erect a protection area around the gate to prevent protesters from invading or damaging the building.

They must present their plan to the department, and could face a fine of between NT$200,000 (US$6,077) and NT$1 million if they fail to protect the gate.

Because Ketagalan Boulevard is a major junction used by 46 bus lines, and is close to six schools and a major hospital, Hsu urged education, transport and environmental protection authorities to protect the quality of lives of students and patients.
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