Members of dozens of civic groups and about a dozen of the 119 people this week indicted for their activities during the Sunflower movement protests yesterday demonstrated outside the Executive Yuan against the prosecutors’ decision.
The protesters criticized the government over “abuse of prosecution power” slamming what they said is its failure to hold the police accountable for the violence of officers during the Sunflower protests in March and April last year.
They accused President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) administration of launching a political purge and said the judicial system was acting as the government’s hatchet man.
Photo: Liao Chen-huei, Taipei Times.
One of the 119, Huang Yu-fen (黃郁芬), said the accused are not afraid to shoulder legal responsibilities arising from their occupation of the legislative main chamber, as the action was a legitimate response for citizens to a dysfunctional political system.
“However, as about 80 percent of the 119 indicted are being prosecuted for breaking into the Executive Yuan, why is it that police officers, who clearly used excessive force [on the night of the Executive Yuan compound sit-in] against peaceful demonstrators have not been prosecuted?” she said.
The charges filed against protesters include “instigating others to commit crime” and called some “the masterminds,” — two terms Restoration of Taiwan Social Justice chief executive Lin Yu-lun (林于倫) said better describe Ma, “as he is the mastermind who instigated our protests and activities.”
He held up enlarged photographs clearly showing the face of a police officer as he wielded a baton.
“The photos have been shown by media outlets for months, but still the officer cannot be found,” he said.
The groups said the violence was reminiscent of the White Terror era, as nothing is known about the perpetrators, only about the victims of state violence.
Amnesty International Taiwan director Bo Tedards said that Amnesty does not generally get involved in domestic political affairs, “but it should be a basic human right for people to say yes or no.”
He called on the government not to ignore human rights, and said that the protesters should not be criminally indicted.
“Just as we [Amnesty International] maintain a neutral and fair stance, we hope this country’s judicial system does the same, but it is regrettable that the Taipei district prosecutors’ office has one-sidedly indicted the protesters but prosecuted none on the police side for the 324 [March 24] violence,” Tedards said.
Another of the activists charged, Wang Yi-kai (王奕凱), slammed Executive Yuan spokesperson Sun Lih-chyun (孫立群) comments about pleading “tolerance” by young protesters.
“‘Tolerance’ is not a word that should be used by perpetrators, but by their victims,” he said.
Calling the prosecution “judicial hunt and murder,” Wang said the protesters have been discriminated against in their work and academic lives.
A photograph of the Sunflower movement was included and the protests were mentioned in last year’s UN Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly, Taiwan Association for Human Rights secretary-general Chiu E-ling (邱伊翎) said.
“The report said that the current period is marked by a ‘democratic recession,’ in which governments are growing more repressive and ‘space to exercise the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association is shrinking,’” Chiu said. “The Executive Yuan has called the protesters ‘the shame of democracy,’ but I think it deserves the description more.”
Wellington Koo (顧立雄), one of the lawyers volunteering to represent the indicted people said the movement was an “act done to uphold social justice” rather than a “crime” and that the volunteer lawyers would continue to help the protesters prove this in court.
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) today issued a sea warning for Typhoon Fung-wong effective from 5:30pm, while local governments canceled school and work for tomorrow. A land warning is expected to be issued tomorrow morning before it is expected to make landfall on Wednesday, the agency said. Taoyuan, and well as Yilan, Hualien and Penghu counties canceled work and school for tomorrow, as well as mountainous district of Taipei and New Taipei City. For updated information on closures, please visit the Directorate-General of Personnel Administration Web site. As of 5pm today, Fung-wong was about 490km south-southwest of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan's southernmost point.
Almost a quarter of volunteer soldiers who signed up from 2021 to last year have sought early discharge, the Legislative Yuan’s Budget Center said in a report. The report said that 12,884 of 52,674 people who volunteered in the period had sought an early exit from the military, returning NT$895.96 million (US$28.86 million) to the government. In 2021, there was a 105.34 percent rise in the volunteer recruitment rate, but the number has steadily declined since then, missing recruitment targets, the Chinese-language United Daily News said, citing the report. In 2021, only 521 volunteers dropped out of the military, the report said, citing
A magnitude 5.3 earthquake struck Kaohsiung at 1pm today, the Central Weather Administration said. The epicenter was in Jiasian District (甲仙), 72.1km north-northeast of Kaohsiung City Hall, at a depth of 7.8km, agency data showed. There were no immediate reports of damage. The earthquake's intensity, which gauges the actual effects of a temblor, was highest in Kaohsiung and Tainan, where it measured a 4 on Taiwan's seven-tier intensity scale. It also measured a 3 in parts of Chiayi City, as well as Pingtung, Yunlin and Hualien counties, data showed.
Nearly 5 million people have signed up to receive the government’s NT$10,000 (US$322) universal cash handout since registration opened on Wednesday last week, with deposits expected to begin tomorrow, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. After a staggered sign-up last week — based on the final digit of the applicant’s national ID or Alien Resident Certificate number — online registration is open to all eligible Taiwanese nationals, foreign permanent residents and spouses of Taiwanese nationals. Banks are expected to start issuing deposits from 6pm today, the ministry said. Those who completed registration by yesterday are expected to receive their NT$10,000 tomorrow, National Treasury
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