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KMT legislators grill MPs over New Year incident

"The woman didn't commit a crime by shouting `Chen Shui-bian step down.' Why was she treated in that way?"

Tsai Chin-lung, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislator

Military Police Command yesterday came under fire from Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers over its officers' actions against a woman who shouted "[President] Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁), step down" during Monday's flag-raising ceremony.

According to TV and newspaper reports, a group of officers carried the woman, Hsu Hsi-erh (許希爾), away and used towels to gag her, causing her to pass out.

Hsu was then taken to a police station before being taken to hospital, the reports said.

The reports also said that when the woman shouted "A-Bian step down," the officers shouted "Viva Republic of China" in a bid to drown her out.

KMT lawmakers yesterday demanded an explanation from the Military Police Command for its officers' behavior.

KMT Legislator Shuai Hua-ming (帥化民) said the officers "had acted beyond the limits of their authority."

"The woman didn't commit a crime by shouting `Chen Shui-bian step down.' Why was she treated in that way? The officers violated the woman's freedom of speech enshrined in the Constitution," KMT Legislator Tsai Chin-lung (蔡錦隆) said.

Feng Yi (馮毅), a Military Police Command officer who was asked to attend the press conference, told lawmakers that the officers had not been instructed to act in the way that they did.

"They acted on their own initiative," Feng said.

Feng said Military Police Command would take responsibility for the matter and that he would like to apologize to the woman.

The lawmakers, however, expressed their disbelief at Feng's explanation.

Hong said it was unlikely that the officers would have had towels at their disposal if they were not acting under orders.

But Feng replied that the officers always carry towels with them.

"Military Police Command will review the incident and release a report," he said.

Later yesterday, the Ministry of National Defense said the officers had taken the initiative and asked to be disciplined over the matter but no further information was available at press time.

A ministry spokesman told the Taipei Times that Minister of National Defense Lee Jye (李傑) had also requested an investigation into the incident.

Additional reporting by Jimmy Chuang
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