The head of the Tainan City Police Department yesterday offered to resign for failing to curb clashes on Tuesday night between President Chen Shui-bian's (陳水扁) supporters and opponents.
In response, National Police Agency (NPA) Director-General Hou You-yi (侯友宜) asked Tainan City Police Chief Wang Wen-chung (王文忠) to stay in his post. But Wang and Kaohsiung City Police Chief Tsai Yi-ren (
Five other high-ranking Kao-hsiung and Tainan police officers were also disciplined.
"I apologized to the public for the police being unable to carry out their duties during the protests in Kaohsiung and Tainan," an upset-looking Hou told a press conference yesterday.
"I vowed that there would be no tolerance for any illegal behavior at any protests," Hou said.
"I have asked police chiefs nationwide to handle the upcoming protests toughly. Anyone violating the law will be arrested," he added.
Wang told reporters he had turned in his resignation because of the clashes.
"The city police department thought it could control the situation, but obviously it was wrong," Wang said.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators demanded that the government discipline Hou.
"The NPA should have come up with measures to prevent violence long ago. The sit-in began on Sept. 9; how come the NPA's officials haven't said that they would hold an emergency meeting until now?" KMT Legislator Diane Lee (
Lin Hung-chih (
But Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislators said that it was Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), and not Hou, who should shoulder the blame for the clashes.
"Ma borrowed police from other local governments to be deployed in Taipei [for the anti-Chen sit-in], resulting in a shortage of police in southern Taiwan," DPP Legislator Lan Mei-chin (藍美津) said.
DPP Legislator Kuan Bi-ling (管碧玲) demanded that Hou discipline Wang Cho-Chiun (王卓鈞), Taipei City Police commissioner, for the skirmishes taking place in Taipei.
DPP Chairman Yu Shyi-kun yesterday also said that Ma should be blamed for the acts of violence that broke out in southern Taiwan between proponents and opponents of the president.
"Ma should be held responsible because the city police failed to arrest those responsible for intimidating drivers passing by Ketagalan Boulevard ever since [former DPP chairman] Shih Ming-teh (施明德) launched the anti-Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) demonstrations on Sept. 9," he said. "If Ma had properly handled these incidents, the acts of violence would not have happened in the south."
Yu said that he hoped the "red army," or supporters of the anti-Chen campaign, would stop using provocative language to gfire up pro-Chen supporters.
"Many people do not want to see Taiwan become a normal country, especially China," Yu said. "It is a shame that Shih has become a pawn of the pan-blue camp and that the pan-blues have become a pawn of China."
Yu made the remarks outside the DPP headquarters before attending the party's weekly Central Standing Committee meeting.
He also talked to a group of his supporters from Ilan County outside the building. The supporters had originally planned to go to the United Evening News to stage a protest and throw eggs because the newspaper had published a story calling Yu "mentally challenged."
Yu dissuaded his supporters because he said the newspaper had already apologized.
The DPP's Central Standing Committee yesterday reached a consensus opposing any form of violence and banning party members from attending any violent event.
"The only way to stop more conflict is for Ma to stop approving more anti-Chen activities. If [he doesn't], the country will never be at peace," DPP Secretary-General Lin Chia-lung (
Meanwhile, to prevent more violence, large numbers of police were deployed in Pingtung City and Tainan City yesterday evening, where anti-Chen sit-ins took place.
At the sites, police took away a few pro-Chen supporters from the scenes for shouting at anti-Chen protesters and attempting to break through sit-in zones that were cordoned off by barricades.
Additional reporting by Mo Yan-chih
A magnitude 7.8 earthquake struck off the southern coast of Mindanao in the Philippines at 7:38am today, prompting the US Tsunami Warning System to issue an alert for neighboring countries, including Taiwan. The system issued a purple alert indicating a "tsunami threat." The potential threat zone includes Taiwan, the Philippines, Papua New Guinea, Yap and Palau. Philippine authorities were assessing the damage from the quake, with the office of civil defense seeking to verifying initial reports that 15 people had been killed and 129 injured in the region, mostly from falling debris. Arlene Hollero, disaster chief of Maasim town in the Philippines' Sarangani Province,
RESILIENCE: Taiwan plays a key role in semiconductors, energy, information infrastructure and advanced manufacturing, AIT Director Raymond Greene said Taiwan’s continued investment in deterrence and resilience remains vital, especially in uncrewed systems and other emerging technologies, American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) Director Raymond Greene said yesterday. Greene made the remarks at the annual National Strategic Summit on Supply Chain Resilience held by the Research Institute for Democracy, Society and Emerging Technology (DSET), a government-backed think tank. As Taiwan last year became the US’ fourth-largest trading partner and supply chain security is becoming more important, cooperation in emerging technologies continues to deepen between the two countries, he said. The US is committed to accelerating innovation, building key infrastructure, strengthening cooperation
The National Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology yesterday showcased its locally developed variants of the Vision 60 robotic patrol dog, which it plans to deploy on the nation’s outlying territories in the South China Sea. The variants were produced under the Joint Lab project — created by the institute and domestic companies — and assembled with domestically produced motors, lenses and artificial intelligence (AI) systems alongside licensed tech from the US, Missile and Rocket Systems Research Division deputy director Jen Kuo-kang (任國光) told the media event at a military base in Taipei’s Dazhi (大直) area. Taiwan has built up its strengths
RIGHT DIRECTION: Taiwan’s efforts to prevent forced labor include a proposal to ‘fully prohibit’ employers from withholding workers’ documents, an official said Taiwan is to establish a mechanism to restrict imports of goods linked to forced labor, the Executive Yuan said yesterday, after the US proposed imposing additional tariffs on Taiwanese goods over labor concerns. “The Ministry of Labor and the Ministry of Economic Affairs are to establish an interministerial review procedure,” Executive Yuan spokesperson Michelle Lee (李慧芝) said at a news briefing in Taipei. “The government is to use the Foreign Trade Act [貿易法] as the legal basis to restrict imports of goods produced with forced labor” and bring its supply chain governance more in line with international standards on human rights, resilience
RSS