The visit of China’s Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait (ARATS) Chairman Chen Yunlin (陳雲林) last week drew protests, prompting the government to dispatch a large contingent of police to secure his personal safety.
While the police said their foremost task was the security of the public during Chen’s visit, many protesters and reporters covering the event questioned police loyalty to taxpayers.
In a bid to oppose President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) China-leaning policies, the Democratic Progressive Party on Sunday organized a street rally in Taichung City where the cross-strait negotiation was held.
During the march, protesters complained that several officers publicly “laughed and mocked” them as “crazy fanatics.”
That night, police officer Sung Kuo-tong (宋國棟) injured two protesters during a scuffle by using pepper spray, which is unauthorized equipment.
Although the officer was later penalized and transferred, the Taichung City Police Bureau said Sung acted appropriately and the demerit he received was for carrying a non-standard weapon, not for assaulting the members of the public.
What irritated the reporters the most about the police, however, was its lack of transparency.
At a protest on Tuesday night by a group of 80-plus pro-independence advocates, the police dispatched an anti-riot squad and what seemed to be several hundred regular uniformed police.
When asked for an exact figure on how many police were mobilized to deal with the protesters — mostly comprised of elderly citizens — the police refused to give an answer and sent reporters on a wild goose chase by telling them to talk to their commanding officers and then pointing in different directions.
One officer said that he forgot his own name when asked by reporters, and several said they did not know who was in charge.
“Is it necessary for the government to send a riot police squad armed with wooden sticks to deal with me? I am just a 70-year-old with a knee problem participating in a non-violent sit-in,” a retired teacher from Taipei said.
For four days, the Taichung Police Bureau’s media contact refused to answer his telephone, frustrating reporters who needed more information on police actions.
On Wednesday night, after a police officer sustained mild head trauma after falling from a protest truck, reporters asked if the bureau would disclose video footage that would prove the officer was pushed, and did not fall on his own as the protesters stated.
Yu Hui-mao (余輝茂), the deputy bureau chief, said releasing the video was out of the question because all investigations must be kept confidential. Within half an hour, however, the bureau made a complete turnaround and told reporters a copy of the video clip would be released to the media for broadcast.
When asked by the ***Taipei Times*** as to why the police bureau had made the u-turn, Yu said he received approval from his superior to release the video, adding: “You had a problem with me when I didn’t want to release the video and now you have a problem with me because I am releasing it.”
A number of Taichung City residents also complained that the huge number of police has inconvenienced them.
“It is laughable that thousands of police were mobilized to protect one man who has never paid and never will a single penny of tax in Taiwan,” a cab driver said.
Factory owner Wu Chin-kuo (吳進國) questioned why Taichung City Mayor Jason Hu (胡志強) was willing to devote so much manpower to protecting one person during Chen's five-day visit, but spent so little on curbing the city’s gang problem during the rest of his term.
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