A coalition of groups opposed to forced evictions yesterday rallied outside the Control Yuan to call for an investigation into two demonstrations at which protesters were allegedly beaten up and confined to designated areas by police.
At demonstrations on Thursday and Friday by residents of New Taipei City’s Daguan (大觀) community, police abused their power by taking unnecessarily violent measures and restricting protesters’ freedom, Taiwan Association for Human Rights policy director Shih Yi-hsiang (施逸翔) said.
During Thursday’s demonstration outside the National Housing and Regeneration Center in Taipei, where President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) attended a ceremony, protesters were violently dragged 200m to an area bordered by barricades and police officers after being told once to disperse, the protesters’ letter to the Control Yuan said.
Photo: Peter Lo, Taipei Times
They were forced to stay in the barricaded area, which the police described as a “protest zone,” and prevented from going to the restroom for two hours, the letter said.
Several who tried to leave were slapped in the face, pushed to the ground or kicked in the stomach by police guarding the area, it said.
The police also prevented them from drinking water, said Lin Yen-yu (林燕玉), a Daguan resident who took part in the protest.
“We would not be protesting on the street if we did not need to. We are only doing it because the government is evicting us from our homes,” she said. “The government is making life so difficult for us.”
Daguan residents are facing forced eviction after losing an extended legal battle with the Veterans Affairs Council over land rights in 2014.
During Saturday’s protest, held outside New Taipei City’s Jiangcui Elementary School two hours before a Democratic Progressive Party campaign event featuring Tsai was to begin, protesters were dragged away, put in police cars and prevented from leaving, the letter said.
Emily Chen, 10, said that police ignored requests to let her go to a restroom and to turn down the car’s air conditioner, despite her being wet from the rain and feeling cold.
According to Article 3 of the Police Power Exercise Act (警察職權行使法), police should exercise their power only to the extent necessary, the association’s legal specialist Wang Si (王曦) said.
By restricting protesters’ freedom without a proper reason, the police violated the act, as well as the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, Wang said.
To prevent police from abusing their powers and to better protect the public’s right to demonstrate and rally, the Control Yuan should investigate the two cases, Shih said.
“If no individual officers are identified, then their supervisor should be held responsible, whether they are head of a police department or the National Police Agency — or the minister of the interior,” Shih added.
AGING: While Japan has 22 submarines, Taiwan only operates four, two of which were commissioned by the US in 1945 and 1946, and transferred to Taiwan in 1973 Taiwan would need at least 12 submarines to reach modern fleet capabilities, CSBC Corp, Taiwan chairman Chen Cheng-hung (陳政宏) said in an interview broadcast on Friday, citing a US assessment. CSBC is testing the nation’s first indigenous defense submarine, the Hai Kun (海鯤, Narwhal), which is scheduled to be delivered to the navy next month or in July. The Hai Kun has completed torpedo-firing tests and is scheduled to undergo overnight sea trials, Chen said on an SET TV military affairs program. Taiwan would require at least 12 submarines to establish a modern submarine force after assessing the nation’s operational environment and defense
Yangmingshan National Park authorities yesterday urged visitors to respect public spaces and obey the law after a couple was caught on a camera livestream having sex at the park’s Qingtiangang (擎天崗) earlier in the day. The Shilin Police Precinct in Taipei said it has identified a suspect and his vehicle registration number, and would summon him for questioning. The case would be handled in accordance with public indecency charges, it added. The couple entered the park at about 11pm on Thursday and began fooling around by 1am yesterday, the police said, adding that the two were unaware of the park’s all-day live
The coast guard today said that it had disrupted "illegal" operations by a Chinese research ship in waters close to the nation and driven it away, part of what Taipei sees a provocative pattern of China's stepped up maritime activities. The coast guard said that it on Thursday last week detected the Chinese ship Tongji (同濟號), which was commissioned only last year, 29 nautical miles (54km) southeast of the southern tip of Taiwan, although just outside restricted waters. The ship was observed lowering ropes into the water, suspected to be the deployment of scientific instruments for "illegal" survey operations, and the coast
A former soldier and an active-duty army officer were yesterday indicted for allegedly selling classified military training materials to a Chinese intelligence operative for a total of NT$79,440. The Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office indicted Chen Tai-yin (陳泰尹) and Lee Chun-ta (李俊達) for contravening the National Security Act (國家安全法) and the Anti-Corruption Act (貪污治罪條例). Chen left the military in September 2013 after serving alongside then-staff sergeant Lee, now an army lieutenant, at the 21st Artillery Command of the army’s Sixth Corps from 2011 to 2013, according to the indictment. Chen met a Chinese intelligence operative identified as “Wang” (王) through a friend in November
RSS