The forced removal of protesters at a demonstration against amendments to the Labor Standards Act (勞動基準法) last year might have infringed upon their constitutional rights, the Control Yuan said yesterday as it issued corrective notices to the Taipei City Government and the Ministry of the Interior.
The encirclement of protesters and lawyers representing their interests, as well as their subsequent forced relocation to suburbs of Taipei on Dec. 23 last year, was inappropriate, reports by the Control Yuan’s Committee of Domestic Affairs and Ethnic Minorities said.
The committee passed a resolution to issue corrective notices to both branches on the grounds that their conduct was against Article 8 of the Constitution and both agencies should seek to rectify their mistakes, it said.
Photo: CNA
Article 8 of the Constitution guarantees the personal liberty of all people.
While the encircle-and-transport method of dealing with protesters results in fewer injuries compared with driving them off with water cannons and police batons, forcibly taking people to another area against their will could be regarded as restricting their freedom of movement, the committee said.
The questionable legality of the method is an issue that the agency, as the competent authority overseeing the enforcement of the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法), should be aware of, the committee said.
Photo: Huang Yao-cheng, Taipei Times
The agency should consider amending the act to further clarify when and how force should be used so that beat cops know how to handle protests legally, the committee said.
If lawyers are providing legal counsel at protests and are not involved in illegal activities, they should be afforded their legally guaranteed right to safeguard the human rights of others, as set forth in the Attorney Regulation Act (律師法), the committee said.
Therefore, when representing others, lawyers should not be considered part of the protest and subject to relocation or forced dispersal, the committee said, adding that the Taipei Police Department’s treatment of lawyers was disrespectful and inappropriate.
While police on duty at protests have the right to enforce peace and prevent violence, they should observe the restraints imposed on their actions by Article 26 of the Assembly and Parade Act, the committee said.
According to Article 26, not granting approval to, restricting of or ordering the dispersal of assemblies and protests should give fair consideration to the rights of assembly for the people and such decisions should maintain the legal interests of others. Any action taken should be done in an appropriate manner and should not exceed the bounds of what is necessary to accomplish the goal.
In terms of procedure, police must first order the disbanding of any protest, and only upon the refusal to listen to multiple warnings, should they resort to forcibly disbanding protests, the committee said.
Also, the necessity of such intervention, and to what degree it infringes on the constitutional rights to free assembly and personal freedom, should be considered, the committee said.
Japanese footwear brand Onitsuka Tiger today issued a public apology and said it has suspended an employee amid allegations that the staff member discriminated against a Vietnamese customer at its Taipei 101 store. Posting on the social media platform Threads yesterday, a user said that an employee at the store said that “those shoes are very expensive” when her friend, who is a migrant worker from Vietnam, asked for assistance. The employee then ignored her until she asked again, to which she replied: "We don't have a size 37." The post had amassed nearly 26,000 likes and 916 comments as of this
US President Donald Trump said "it’s up to" Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) what China does on Taiwan, but that he would be "very unhappy" with a change in the "status quo," the New York Times said in an interview published yesterday. Xi "considers it to be a part of China, and that’s up to him what he’s going to be doing," Trump told the newspaper on Wednesday. "But I’ve expressed to him that I would be very unhappy if he did that, and I don’t think he’ll do that," he added. "I hope he doesn’t do that." Trump made the comments in
Tourism in Kenting fell to a historic low for the second consecutive year last year, impacting hotels and other local businesses that rely on a steady stream of domestic tourists, the latest data showed. A total of 2.139 million tourists visited Kenting last year, down slightly from 2.14 million in 2024, the data showed. The number of tourists who visited the national park on the Hengchun Peninsula peaked in 2015 at 8.37 million people. That number has been below 2.2 million for two years, although there was a spike in October last year due to multiple long weekends. The occupancy rate for hotels
A cold surge advisory was today issued for 18 cities and counties across Taiwan, with temperatures of below 10°C forecast during the day and into tonight, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. New Taipei City, Taipei, Taoyuan and Hsinchu, Miaoli and Yilan counties are expected to experience sustained temperatures of 10°C or lower, the CWA said. Temperatures are likely to temporarily drop below 10°C in most other areas, except Taitung, Pingtung, Penghu and Lienchiang (Matsu) counties, CWA data showed. The cold weather is being caused by a strong continental cold air mass, combined with radiative cooling, a process in which heat escapes from
RSS