Three students and a fourth person were arrested at New Taipei City’s Fu Jen Catholic University at 1am yesterday after allegedly attempting to topple a bronze statue of Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) and obstructing police officers.
Equipped with an angle grinder, a generator and a rope, student Lo Yi (羅宜) allegedly began cutting the statue at 12:30am, which drew the attention of university guards.
Officers from the Sinjhuang Precinct’s Fuying Police Station arrived minutes later.
Photo: CNA
Precinct investigation brigade head Chang Chun-ming (張俊明) told the students that their actions were in breach of the Social Order Maintenance Act (社會秩序維護法) and constituted vandalism, adding that they would be arrested if they did not stop.
A crowd near the statue told officers that they had no right to arrest students on campus unless the university gave them permission.
Chang said that the officers were acting on a request by the university.
Photo: Lee Ya-wen, Taipei Times
Chang and several colleagues engaged in a loud exchange with Lo and others. They pulled Lo away from the statue, prompting scuffles.
Lo and another student, surnamed Chen (陳), were subdued by several officers and handcuffed.
A woman, surnamed Chen (陳), who the police said was “making irrational remarks,” was also handcuffed.
Another student, surnamed Lin (林), who was taking photographs at the scene, was also detained.
Lo was detained for breaches of the act, while the others were obstructing police officers in the course of their duties, Chang said.
They were taken to the precinct for questioning and at 8am were sent to the New Taipei City District Prosecutors’ Office.
They were later released after the university said it would not file charges.
Lo made a hole near a foot of the statue and broke a cane Chiang holds, the university said, adding that repairs would cost about NT$5,000.
Lo said that statues of Chiang on campuses nationwide are defaced or tampered with by students ahead of Feb. 28 every year and are restored.
However, it is time they are toppled “once and for all,” he said.
UNDER INVESTIGATION: Huang’s body was found just outside the bathroom and showed no signs of a struggle, and no alcohol or drugs were found Singer and actor Alien Huang (黃鴻升) was found dead at his home in Taipei’s Beitou District (北投) yesterday. He was 36. Huang was also known by the nickname Xiao Gui (“little ghost”). His body was found when his father went to check on him after being unable to reach him by telephone, and called emergency services to the house at 11am, the Taipei City Police Department said. Huang’s body, which was discovered just outside the bathroom, showed no signs of a physical struggle, and he appeared to have been dead for some time, police said, adding that no drugs or alcohol were
CONFIRMED IN PHILIPPINES: The CECC would conduct contact tracing for the migrant workers to determine if they had come into contact with elderly people or children Six Filipinos tested positive for COVID-19 upon returning home from Taiwan, the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) said yesterday as it reported a case of imported COVID-19 infection, bringing the number of confirmed cases in Taiwan to 500. Philippine authorities reported four of the cases through the National IHR Focal Point, while the other two were reported by the company that they had worked for in Taiwan. The six — five women and one man — are aged from their 20s to 40s, and worked as in-home care workers, domestic workers, factory workers and sailors in Taiwan, said Minister of Health and
FEELING MISUNDERSTOOD: Media speculation has fueled confusion about the KMT’s reasons for skipping a Chinese forum and delaying an AIT meeting, party sources said The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) on Sunday said that it is not seeking to improve relations with the US or China at the expense of the other, and that its relations with the countries would be topic-based. The party has faced questions over its foreign policy after it on Monday last week announced its withdrawal from the annual Straits Forum and delayed planned talks with the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT). The party has also taken a tough stance on the importation of US meat containing ractopamine, while also lambasting China for increasing its military activity in and around the Taiwan Strait. Following
The COVID-19 pandemic might not have originated from a seafood market in Wuhan, China, National Taiwan University College of Public Health professor Tony Chen (陳秀熙) said yesterday. While many countries are experiencing second waves of COVID-19 infections, many are also lifting lockdowns to revive their economies, allowing travelers to cross national borders, Chen said. Academics have been questioning whether genetic mutations in the novel coronavirus in different countries have made it more infectious, he added. Academics from different backgrounds have conducted phylogenetic analysis of SARS-CoV-2 genome sequences, he said, adding that the studies can help scientists understand how the virus spread among
RSS