The Miaoli District Prosecutors’ Office yesterday indicted seven people, including Youth Alliance for Miaoli spokesman Chen Wei-ting (陳為廷), for interfering with official duties and destroying property among other charges during a series of protests last year over the demolition of four farmers’ homes in Dapu Borough (大埔).
Prosecutors said the seven were charged with violating the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法), contempt of authority, obstructing officials in carrying out their duties, causing bodily harm and property damage.
The seven staged a series of protests after the Miaoli County Government on July 18 last year partially or completely flattened the four remaining houses resisting demolition to make way for a science park in the farming village of Dapu in the county’s Jhunan Township (竹南).
One of the protests took place outside the former house of Chang Sen-wen (張森文), one of the four homeowners whose body was found in September last year in an irrigation channel about 200m from the site.
Miaoli County Commissioner Liu Cheng-hung (劉政鴻) attempted to visit the Chang family on Sept. 18 after Chang’s body was found, but relatives, friends and supporters of the family stood outside the house to block his entry. Liu was hit by a shoe during the confrontation.
Chen later admitted he threw the shoe, prompting Liu to file a lawsuit against him.
At another rally on Aug. 16 last year, 1,000 people sang to show support for the Dapu homeowners and later threw eggs at the county government building to express their anger at the government. Fifteen police officers were accidentally hit by the eggs, including officer Chang Shih-hsiung (張世雄), who was rushed to a hospital after his right eyeball was injured by eggshell fragments.
Another incident took place on Sept. 14 last year, during which protesters clashed with police when the former dared Liu to come forward and take questions from the public over the Dapu case.
In response to the indictment yesterday, Chen said he did not intend to break the law when he took part in the protests.
“The county government had abused its power by destroying people’s homes and we were simply expressing civil disobedience,” he said.
Chen said that Liu should be held responsible for what happened, since the conflict was all because of the commissioner’s disrespect for a family in mourning.
“Liu told the media that he has taken legal action to defend the dignity of government employees, but I would say that a government employee does not deserve to be respected if he disrespects a family in mourning and upsets people,” Chen said in a statement.
AGING: While Japan has 22 submarines, Taiwan only operates four, two of which were commissioned by the US in 1945 and 1946, and transferred to Taiwan in 1973 Taiwan would need at least 12 submarines to reach modern fleet capabilities, CSBC Corp, Taiwan chairman Chen Cheng-hung (陳政宏) said in an interview broadcast on Friday, citing a US assessment. CSBC is testing the nation’s first indigenous defense submarine, the Hai Kun (海鯤, Narwhal), which is scheduled to be delivered to the navy next month or in July. The Hai Kun has completed torpedo-firing tests and is scheduled to undergo overnight sea trials, Chen said on an SET TV military affairs program. Taiwan would require at least 12 submarines to establish a modern submarine force after assessing the nation’s operational environment and defense
A white king snake that frightened passengers and caused a stir on a Taipei MRT train on Friday evening has been claimed by its owner, who would be fined, Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC) said yesterday. A person on Threads posted that he thought he was lucky to find an empty row of seats on Friday after boarding a train on the Bannan (Blue) Line, only to spot a white snake with black stripes after sitting down. Startled, he jumped up, he wrote, describing the encounter as “terrifying.” “Taipei’s rat control plan: Release snakes on the metro,” one person wrote in reply, referring
The coast guard today said that it had disrupted "illegal" operations by a Chinese research ship in waters close to the nation and driven it away, part of what Taipei sees a provocative pattern of China's stepped up maritime activities. The coast guard said that it on Thursday last week detected the Chinese ship Tongji (同濟號), which was commissioned only last year, 29 nautical miles (54km) southeast of the southern tip of Taiwan, although just outside restricted waters. The ship was observed lowering ropes into the water, suspected to be the deployment of scientific instruments for "illegal" survey operations, and the coast
Taiwan’s two cases of hantavirus so far this year are on par with previous years’ case numbers, and the government is coordinating rat extermination work, so there should not be any outbreaks, Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Director-General Philip Lo (羅一鈞) said today in an interview with the Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister newspaper). An increase in rat sightings in Taipei and New Taipei City has raised concerns about the spread of hantavirus, as rats can carry the disease. In January, a man in his 70s who lived in Taipei’s Daan District (大安) tested positive posthumously for hantavirus, Taiwan’s
RSS