The Taipei City Government's failure to exercise authority and enforce law and order yesterday would have repercussions on the country's democracy, legal professionals said.
"The city government has neglected its duty," Y.C. Kao (
He was referring to the tens of thousands of slogan-chanting red-clad anti-Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) protesters who took to the streets of Taipei without getting permission for the rally from the Taipei City Government.
Taipei City Police Department Commissioner Wang Cho-chiun (王卓鈞) had said on Monday that the anti-Chen camp's "siege" around the Presidential Office building would be illegal since the campaign organizers had not applied for a permit from the city to hold a parade or rally.
Wang said that the planned parade would violate the Assembly and Parade Law (
However, Taipei police did not enforce the law because Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (
"So long as they [the protesters] are not violent and do not break the peace, Taipei City police will handle the situation with flexibility," Ma said yesterday.
The city's decision violated the principle of the rule of law, which would hurt the nation's democracy, Kao said.
"The city government cannot say the people have the right to express their opinions and yet fail to enforce the law," he said.
Kao said he was concerned that the Taipei police department's poor handling of the event would set a bad precedent for other illegal protests.
He said the Taiwan Association of Human Rights and 20 other civic groups, including his foundation, see the Assembly and Parade Law as a bad law.
These groups believe the government has used it as a tool to suppress, rather than protect, the public's liberty -- explaining why they have been pushing for it to be amended.
But until the law is amended, it should be obeyed and enforced, Kao said.
Lin Ching-tsung (林慶宗), a prosecutor with the Kaohsiung branch of the Taiwan High Court Prosecutors' Office, told the Taipei Times that the city government's decision not to remove protesters in accordance with the law meant that the city was in contempt of the law.
This would not happen in a mature democracy, he said.
According to Lin, the law stipulates that police are able to remove protesters at an illegal rally after officers raise warning signs three times and broadcast an appeal for the protesters to leave.
The Taipei police did not raise signs announcing the assembly was illegal, which then made it impossible for them to formally ask the protesters to leave.
Lin said the police's "soft approach" broke the law and would have a negative impact on future policing of rallies and protests.
The law gives the police the power to permit or deny applications for assembly, restrict protesters' activities, maintain order and dismiss assemblies.
More than half of the bamboo vipers captured in Tainan in the past few years were found in the city’s Sinhua District (新化), while other districts had smaller catches or none at all. Every year, Tainan captures about 6,000 snakes which have made their way into people’s homes. Of the six major venomous snakes in Taiwan, the cobra, the many-banded krait, the brown-spotted pit viper and the bamboo viper are the most frequently captured. The high concentration of bamboo vipers captured in Sinhua District is puzzling. Tainan Agriculture Bureau Forestry and Nature Conservation Division head Chu Chien-ming (朱健明) earlier this week said that the
NAMING SPAT: The foreign ministry called on Denmark to propose an acceptable solution to the erroneous nationality used for Taiwanese on residence permits Taiwan has revoked some privileges for Danish diplomatic staff over a Danish permit that lists “Taiwan” as “China,” Eric Huang (黃鈞耀), head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ Department of European Affairs, told a news conference in Taipei yesterday. Reporters asked Huang whether the Danish government had responded to the ministry’s request that it correct the nationality on Danish residence permits of Taiwanese, which has been listed as “China” since 2024. Taiwan’s representative office in Denmark continues to communicate with the Danish government, and the ministry has revoked some privileges previously granted to Danish representatives in Taiwan and would continue to review
The first bluefin tuna of the season, brought to shore in Pingtung County and weighing 190kg, was yesterday auctioned for NT$10,600 (US$333.5) per kilogram, setting a record high for the local market. The auction was held at the fish market in Donggang Fishing Harbor, where the Siaoliouciou Island-registered fishing vessel Fu Yu Ching No. 2 delivered the “Pingtung First Tuna” it had caught for bidding. Bidding was intense, and the tuna was ultimately jointly purchased by a local restaurant and a local company for NT$10,600 per kilogram — NT$300 ,more than last year — for a total of NT$2.014 million. The 67-year-old skipper
BREACH OF CONTRACT: The bus operators would seek compensation and have demanded that the manufacturer replace the chips with ones that meet regulations Two bus operators found to be using buses with China-made chips are to demand that the original manufacturers replace the systems and provide compensation for breach of contract, the Veterans Affairs Council said yesterday. Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Michelle Lin (林楚茵) yesterday said that Da Nan Bus Co and Shin-Shin Bus Co Ltd have fielded a total of 82 buses that are using Chinese chips. The bus models were made by Tron-E, while the systems provider was CYE Electronics, Lin said. Lin alleged that the buses were using chips manufactured by Huawei subsidiary HiSilicon Co, which presents a national security risk if the
RSS