Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) Legislator Chou Ni-an (周倪安) yesterday grilled a top Judicial Yuan official about Sunflower movement activists injured by police violence during the occupation of the Executive Yuan in March last year.
Chou has been pushing for state compensation for activists and others who were beaten by police wielding batons and riot shields on March 23 and March 24 during the overnight storming of the Executive Yuan.
The people who took part in the Executive Yuan occupation were peaceful activists who had no weapons and were engaged in nonviolent civil disobedience, but riot police brutally attacked them, acting on instruction of then-premier Jiang Yih-huah (江宜樺) to clear the area, Chou said.
Chou questioned Judicial Yuan Secretary-General Lin Chin-fang (林錦芳) during a meeting of the legislature’s Judiciary and Organic Laws and Statutes Committee.
“I demand the government pay compensation to those who were injured during the March 23 to 24 incident,” Chou said.
Police officers that night used violent force that exceeded the limits of their vested powers to enforce the law, she said as she questioned Lin.
Chou was among those who were hurt by police that night. She suffered head injuries, facial contusions and impaired vision, and was hospitalized for several weeks.
“Many of the injured later tried litigation, but the courts dismissed their lawsuits. The Judicial Yuan and the legal system are denying citizens their right to seek justice and redress,” Chou said.
However, during Chou’s questioning, Lin would not agree to the litigation demanded by those who were injured, and also said the government bore no legal responsibility for the injuries or for state compensation.
Chou criticized Lin’s attitude.
“So many people were beaten up and seriously hurt by the police, but Lin has no concern for them. It is outrageous to have the Judicial Yuan’s secretary-general showing such indifference to citizens seeking to exercise their legal rights and obtain justice,” she said.
Sunflower movement activists and their supporters are scheduled to hold a march in Taipei tomorrow morning to mark the one-year anniversary of their occupation of the legislature’s main chamber on March 18 last year.
Participants are asked to gather in front of the Taipei 228 Memorial Museum at 9:20am. The march to the Legislative Yuan is scheduled to begin at 9:50am and organizers said the marchers will walk around the legislature seven times.
The march is scheduled to conclude at noon.
There will also be a rally near the legislature’s side entrance on Taipei’s Jinan Road, which is scheduled to begin at 6:30pm.
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