Protesters early yesterday gathered outside the National Police Agency headquarters in Taipei, spraying paint on a wall and demanding justice for police violence during the 2014 Sunflower movement. One person was arrested at the scene.
“Fourth anniversary of March 23,” protesters wrote on one of the building’s outer walls, referring to the day in 2014 when students and others protesting a controversial cross-strait service trade agreement attempted to occupy the Executive Yuan after occupying the Legislative Yuan.
Riot police at the time used excessive force against non-violent protesters, the protesters said.
Photo: Provided by a reader
Photographs taken on March 24, 2014, when riot police arrived at the Executive Yuan to evict protesters at about 5am, clearly show police beating protesters with batons, “splitting their heads open” and firing on others with water cannons, one protester said.
The images, which were published in international media, show police using excessive force, but the government says that the perpetrators cannot be found, they said.
About 10 people were involved in the painting yesterday, some of whom were also involved in the attempted occupation four years ago, the protester said.
The officers who beat protesters have still not been found and the government seems uninterested in determining responsibility, they said, adding that the group would address the media again once the protester in custody was released.
Prosecutors have failed to take any action against officers who acted violently, but have spent the past four years wasting resources to go after members of the public who were involved in the Sunflower movement, the protester said.
“They say they cannot find [the officers responsible] ... at first we thought that perhaps the government of [former president] Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) was incompetent or shameless,” a protester said, adding that they were disappointed that President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) administration has also failed to address the issue.
“Police who used excessive force should not be allowed to act like their actions were inevitable and right, and continue to hide under the protective umbrella of the system,” a protester said. “We demand that Tsai and [Premier] William Lai (賴清德) stop hiding from the issue and ensure justice for those who entered the Executive Yuan on March 23, 2014.”
An increase in Taiwanese boats using China-made automatic identification systems (AIS) could confuse coast guards patrolling waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast and become a loophole in the national security system, sources familiar with the matter said yesterday. Taiwan ADIZ, a Facebook page created by enthusiasts who monitor Chinese military activities in airspace and waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast, on Saturday identified what seemed to be a Chinese cargo container ship near Penghu County. The Coast Guard Administration went to the location after receiving the tip and found that it was a Taiwanese yacht, which had a Chinese AIS installed. Similar instances had also
GOOD DIPLOMACY: The KMT has maintained close contact with representative offices in Taiwan and had extended an invitation to Russia as well, the KMT said The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) would “appropriately handle” the fallout from an invitation it had extended to Russia’s representative to Taipei to attend its international banquet last month, KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday. US and EU representatives in Taiwan boycotted the event, and only later agreed to attend after the KMT rescinded its invitation to the Russian representative. The KMT has maintained long-term close contact with all representative offices and embassies in Taiwan, and had extended the invitation as a practice of good diplomacy, Chu said. “Some EU countries have expressed their opinions of Russia, and the KMT respects that,” he
VIGILANCE: The military is paying close attention to actions that might damage peace and stability in the region, the deputy minister of national defense said The People’s Republic of China (PRC) might consider initiating a hack on Taiwanese networks on May 20, the day of the inauguration ceremony of president-elect William Lai (賴清德), sources familiar with cross-strait issues said. While US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken’s statement of the US expectation “that all sides will conduct themselves with restraint and prudence in the period ahead” would prevent military actions by China, Beijing could still try to sabotage Taiwan’s inauguration ceremony, the source said. China might gain access to the video screens outside of the Presidential Office Building and display embarrassing messages from Beijing, such as congratulating Lai
Four China Coast Guard ships briefly sailed through prohibited waters near Kinmen County, Taipei said, urging Beijing to stop actions that endanger navigation safety. The Chinese ships entered waters south of Kinmen, 5km from the Chinese city of Xiamen, at about 3:30pm on Monday, the Coast Guard Administration said in a statement later the same day. The ships “sailed out of our prohibited and restricted waters” about an hour later, the agency said, urging Beijing to immediately stop “behavior that endangers navigation safety.” Ministry of National Defense spokesman Sun Li-fang (孫立方) yesterday told reporters that Taiwan would boost support to the Coast Guard