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.
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) today issued a "tsunami watch" alert after a magnitude 8.7 earthquake struck off the Kamchatka Peninsula in northeastern Russia earlier in the morning. The quake struck off the east coast of the Kamchatka Peninsula at 7:25am (Taiwan time) at a depth of about 19km, the CWA said, citing figures from the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center. The CWA's Seismological Center said preliminary assessments indicate that a tsunami could reach Taiwan's coastal areas by 1:18pm today. The CWA urged residents along the coast to stay alert and take necessary precautions as waves as high as 1m could hit the southeastern
FINAL COUNTDOWN: About 50,000 attended a pro-recall rally yesterday, while the KMT and the TPP plan to rally against the recall votes today Democracy activists, together with arts and education representatives, yesterday organized a motorcade, while thousands gathered on Ketagalan Boulevard in Taipei in the evening in support of tomorrow’s recall votes. Recall votes for 24 Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers and suspended Hsinchu City mayor Ann Kao (高虹安) are to be held tomorrow, while recall votes for seven other KMT lawmakers are scheduled for Aug. 23. The afternoon motorcade was led by the Spring Breeze Culture and Arts Foundation, the Tyzen Hsiao Foundation and the Friends of Lee Teng-hui Association, and was joined by delegates from the Taiwan Statebuilding Party and the Taiwan Solidarity
Instead of threatening tariffs on Taiwan-made chips, the US should try to reinforce cooperation with Taiwan on semiconductor development to take on challenges from the People’s Republic of China (PRC), a Taiwanese think tank said. The administration of US President Donald Trump has threatened to impose across-the-board import duties of 32 percent on Taiwan-made goods and levy a separate tariff on semiconductors, which Taiwan is hoping to avoid. The Research Institute for Democracy, Society, and Emerging Technology (DSET), a National Science and Technology Council think tank, said that US efforts should focus on containing China’s semiconductor rise rather than impairing Taiwan. “Without
The National Museum of Taiwan Literature is next month to hold an exhibition in Osaka, Japan, showcasing the rich and unique history of Taiwanese folklore and literature. The exhibition, which is to run from Aug. 10 to Aug. 20 at the city’s Central Public Hall, is part of the “We Taiwan” at Expo 2025 series, highlighting Taiwan’s cultural ties with the international community, National Museum of Taiwan Literature director Chen Ying-fang (陳瑩芳) said. Folklore and literature, among Taiwan’s richest cultural heritages, naturally deserve a central place in the global dialogue, Chen said. Taiwan’s folklore would be immediately apparent at the entrance of the
RSS