The Greater Taichung Police Department’s Chingshui Precinct yesterday summoned 908 Taiwan Republic Campaign head Chou Chung-teh (周崇德) for questioning, while his lawyer, Ko Shao-chen (柯邵臻), warned that his client may sue the station for abuse of authority.
Chingshui Precinct summoned Chou for questioning about how a female military police officer standing guard at Taichung Harbor Sports Stadium, where the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) held its national congress on Sunday, had been injured by fireworks Chou allegedly set off.
The campaign’s members gathered in front of the precinct yesterday shouting slogans and waving flags in support of Chou, alleging that the summons was against the police’s primary duty of protecting people and that the police had become the KMT’s private security force.
The head of the campaign’s Greater Taichung branch, Chang Chih-mei (張志梅), said the protest on Sunday was conducted as a group and that it was wrong for police to single out Chou for questioning.
As such, he yesterday led heads of all of the campaign’s branches to the precinct to turn themselves in to police.
Meanwhile, Chou took with him as evidence the fireworks that had been set off that day, as well as photographs of the event, to prove his innocence, adding that the fireworks were purchased legally and had been set off toward the sky instead of being aimed at the injured person.
“It is the KMT’s trade to cook up some phony charges against people,” Chou said, adding that he was extremely offended and angry.
In response, precinct deputy chief Hsiao Kuo-cheng (蕭國政) said police summoned Chou for questioning because footage captured by police officers showed civilians setting off fireworks.
Precinct chief Liu Hsi-ming (劉錫明) said that though the female officer allegedly hit by Chou’s firework was not pressing charges, it was an action that clearly impeded the officer’s ability to carry out her job, adding that the precinct would be forwarding the case to the Greater Taichung District Prosecutors’ Office on the charge of obstruction of official duty.
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