Saying that the Assembly and Parade Law (集會遊行法) restricts people more than it protects them, several civic groups demonstrated outside the Legislative Yuan yesterday, demanding that the law be abolished.
“Assembly and parade are ways through which we the people express our voice,” said Wang Ping (王蘋), secretary-general of the Gender/Sexuality Rights Association Taiwan.
“The law, designed to protect our right to hold demonstrations, only tells us that we can’t do this or we can’t do that — how is that a protection?” she asked.
PHOTO: WANG MIN-WEI, TAIPEI TIMES
A demonstration organizer must submit an application for an assembly and parade permit to the local police authority six working days before a demonstration. The organizer must file a separate application for the right to use public spaces in advance and pay a NT$30,000 (US$900) deposit.
However, even if everything is filed in time and conforms to the law, it does not mean that permission would be granted.
The annual gay pride parade in Taipei — held on Sept. 27 — was forced to change its route this year because “no rally or parade can be held in the Boai District [博愛特區] as the national day celebrations were in preparation,” Wang said.
The Boai District is where many central government offices, such as the Presidential Office, are located.
The National Teachers’ Association’s (NTA) application to hold a demonstration in front of the Ministry of Education on Sept. 28 was turned down for the same reason.
“Be they politicians in the green camp or the blue camp, this law is their favorite tool,” NTA spokesman Lo Te-shui (羅德水) said. “The more political a rally is, the easier the permission would be granted. It’s always very difficult for other grassroots campaigners to obtain rally permission.”
“Before he was elected to the presidency, President Ma Ying-jeou [馬英九] and the Chinese Nationalist Party [KMT] voiced their support for amending the law, but now that they’re in control of both the government and the legislature, what has happened to the promise?” Lo asked.
While some of the protesters, such as Green Party Taiwan secretary-general Pan Han-shen (潘翰聲), said they could accept a revised version of the law if the new version actually offers protection of rather than restrictions on the right to assemble and protest, most others insisted that the law should be abolished.
“I don’t want the law to be amended, because however it’s revised, it will still be [the government’s] law — I want it to be abolished,” said Fred Chiu (丘延亮), an associate research fellow at Academia Sinica’s Institute of Ethnology.
SHIPS, TRAINS AND AUTOMOBILES: The ministry has announced changes to varied transportation industries taking effect soon, with a number of effects for passengers Beginning next month, the post office is canceling signature upon delivery and written inquiry services for international registered small packets in accordance with the new policy of the Universal Postal Union, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications said yesterday. The new policy does not apply to packets that are to be delivered to China, the ministry said. Senders of international registered small packets would receive a NT$10 rebate on postage if the packets are sent from Jan. 1 to March 31, it added. The ministry said that three other policies are also scheduled to take effect next month. International cruise ship operators
HORROR STORIES: One victim recounted not realizing they had been stabbed and seeing people bleeding, while another recalled breaking down in tears after fleeing A man on Friday died after he tried to fight the knife-wielding suspect who went on a stabbing spree near two of Taipei’s busiest metro stations, Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) said. The 57-year-old man, identified by his family name, Yu (余), encountered the suspect at Exit M7 of Taipei Main Station and immediately tried to stop him, but was fatally wounded and later died, Chiang said, calling the incident “heartbreaking.” Yu’s family would receive at least NT$5 million (US$158,584) in compensation through the Taipei Rapid Transit Corp’s (TRTC) insurance coverage, he said after convening an emergency security response meeting yesterday morning. National
PLANNED: The suspect visited the crime scene before the killings, seeking information on how to access the roof, and had extensively researched a 2014 stabbing incident The suspect in a stabbing attack that killed three people and injured 11 in Taipei on Friday had planned the assault and set fires at other locations earlier in the day, law enforcement officials said yesterday. National Police Agency (NPA) Director-General Chang Jung-hsin (張榮興) said the suspect, a 27-year-old man named Chang Wen (張文), began the attacks at 3:40pm, first setting off smoke bombs on a road, damaging cars and motorbikes. Earlier, Chang Wen set fire to a rental room where he was staying on Gongyuan Road in Zhongzheng District (中正), Chang Jung-hsin said. The suspect later threw smoke grenades near two exits
The Forestry and Nature Conservation Agency yesterday launched a gift box to market honey “certified by a Formosan black bear” in appreciation of a beekeeper’s amicable interaction with a honey-thieving bear. Beekeeper Chih Ming-chen (池明鎮) in January inspected his bee farm in Hualien County’s Jhuosi Township (卓溪) and found that more than 20 beehives had been destroyed and many hives were eaten, with bear droppings and paw prints near the destroyed hives, the agency said. Chih returned to the farm to move the remaining beehives away that evening when he encountered a Formosan black bear only 20m away, the agency said. The bear
RSS