Student activist Chen Wei-ting (陳為廷) was found guilty yesterday of tossing a shoe at Miaoli County Commissioner Liu Cheng-hung (劉政鴻) in a protest last year and fined NT$10,000 (US$333) by the Miaoli District Court.
In September last year during a protest against Liu over the county government’s seizure and demolition of private homes in Dapu District (大埔), Chen tossed a shoe at Liu as he tried to stop the commissioner from entering the venue of a memorial service for Chang Sen-wen (張森文).
Chang’s home had been torn down by the county government. He was found dead in an irrigation channel a month after the forced demolition. It remains unclear whether Chang was murdered or committed suicide.
Photo: Chang Hsun-teng, Taipei Times
“I don’t think it’s a fair ruling, because Chen tossed the shoe at Liu to stop him from entering the venue for the memorial service, after Chang’s family stated clearly that Liu was not welcome, but he ignored it and still tried to go inside,” Lee Huan-yi (李宣毅), the attorney representing Chen in court, said outside the courthouse immediately following the verdict. “It was actually Liu who tried to force entry into a private home and interrupt a memorial service first; we therefore consider what Chen did as self-defense under the authorization of Chang’s family.”
“We regret that the judge was not convinced, and we will certainly appeal,” Lee added.
According to the written verdict, shoes are generally considered “unclean,” and therefore it would be a humiliation that causes harm to Liu’s dignity to get hit in the face by a shoe thrown by someone.
Chang’s widow, Peng Hsiu-chun (彭秀春), also showed up at the press conference to support Chen and the other activists.
“We never invited Liu to the memorial service and rejected his request to come to pay respects to my husband. We were actually quite upset when he tried to force his way into the building, escorted by the police,” Peng said. “If he didn’t insist, then nothing would have happened.”
In another case, the court acquitted Chen and six others who were said to be involved in an egg-throwing demonstration outside the Miaoli County Hall in August last year.
The court acquitted the seven defendants of humiliating a government office and violation of the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法) for a rally outside the county hall that ended with the crowd throwing more than 3,000 eggs at the county hall building, while wounding three police officers.
The court said the egg-throwing occurred after 10pm, when the county hall was already empty, and therefore it caused no humiliation to any county officials.
It added that, since the rally ended peacefully soon afterward, it did not constitute a violation of the Assembly and Parade Act.
The Ministry of Education (MOE) is to launch a new program to encourage international students to stay in Taiwan and explore job opportunities here after graduation, Deputy Minister of Education Yeh Ping-cheng (葉丙成) said on Friday. The government would provide full scholarships for international students to further their studies for two years in Taiwan, so those who want to pursue a master’s degree can consider applying for the program, he said. The fields included are science, technology, engineering, mathematics, semiconductors and finance, Yeh added. The program, called “Intense 2+2,” would also assist international students who completed the two years of further studies in
Former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) departed for Europe on Friday night, with planned stops in Lithuania and Denmark. Tsai arrived at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport on Friday night, but did not speak to reporters before departing. Tsai wrote on social media later that the purpose of the trip was to reaffirm the commitment of Taiwanese to working with democratic allies to promote regional security and stability, upholding freedom and democracy, and defending their homeland. She also expressed hope that through joint efforts, Taiwan and Europe would continue to be partners building up economic resilience on the global stage. The former president was to first
Taiwan will now have four additional national holidays after the Legislative Yuan passed an amendment today, which also made Labor Day a national holiday for all sectors. The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) used their majority in the Legislative Yuan to pass the amendment to the Act on Implementing Memorial Days and State Holidays (紀念日及節日實施辦法), which the parties jointly proposed, in its third and final reading today. The legislature passed the bill to amend the act, which is currently enforced administratively, raising it to the legal level. The new legislation recognizes Confucius’ birthday on Sept. 28, the
MORE NEEDED: Recall drives against legislators in Miaoli’s two districts and Hsinchu’s second district were still a few thousand signatures short of the second-stage threshold Campaigners aiming to recall Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators yesterday said they expect success in 30 out of 35 districts where drives have passed the second-stage threshold, which would mark a record number of recall votes held at once. Hsinchu County recall campaigners yesterday announced that they reached the second-stage threshold in the recall effort against Legislator Lin Szu-ming (林思銘). A total of 26,414 signatures have been gathered over the past two months, surpassing the 10 percent threshold of 23,287 in Hsinchu County’s second electoral district, chief campaigner Hsieh Ting-ting (謝婷婷) said. “Our target is to gather an additional 1,500 signatures to reach
RSS