Police yesterday accused former Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) chairman Shih Ming-teh (
Deputy Minister of Justice Lee Chin-yung (
"The unlawful rally on Double Ten day, for which the anti-Chen campaign did not seek permission, caused civic chaos and led to numerous violent incidents, for which the organizers of the rally must take responsibility," Lee said.
PHOTO: WALLY SANTANA, AP
The Taipei District Prosecutors' Office said it had videotaped evidence of infractions committed by 19 suspects during the Double Ten celebrations.
The individuals are accused of violating the Assembly and Parade Law (
The 19 individuals are: Shih, the instigator of the anti-Chen campaign, and campaign organizers Chien Hsi-chieh, Chang Fu-chung (
The charges are related to the presence of thousands of protesters at a rally outside Taipei Railway Station on Tuesday afternoon and, subsequently, along Zhongxiao W Road before being dispersed by the Taipei City Police Department in the early hours of yesterday morning.
Under Shih's direction, the rally turned into a sit-in on the road from about 9pm on Tuesday night.
Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) requested the protesters disperse by 11pm, but about 5,000 diehards refused to leave until the police department sent about 1,400 riot police to disperse them at 4:30am yesterday morning.
The area was cleared after the last protesters were carried away at about 5am.
The police department gathered evidence of violent scuffles during the illegal demonstration and later demanded that the anti-Chen campaign shoulder the responsibility for these incidents.
However, campaign leaders yesterday shrugged off charges of violating public order and vowed to continue their movement.
"It's not a big deal. Organizers of any mass protest inevitably face such charges sooner or later. We are not surprised," Chang Fu-chung, news coordinator of the campaign, said yesterday at the sit-in area in front of the Taipei Railway Station.
When asked about the absence of campaign organizers when the police stepped in to disperse protesters, Chang Fu-chung said Shih and others were "taking a rest."
While Chang Fu-chung said he respected the police's decision to disperse the protesters, Chien objected.
"For the protesters who insisted on sitting in the road, retreating back to the [railway] station felt like a defeat," he said.
Chang Fu-chung said protesters would petition in front of the legislature tomorrow to support the second presidential recall motion, before returning to Ketagalan Boulevard on Saturday. They plan to remain there until Nov. 3.
"Our next move will depend on the outcome of the investigation into the president's special allowance fund," he said.
Meanwhile, the recall drive against pan-green legislators has generated enough support to initiate a recall motion against about 20 DPP legislators, including Wang Shih-cheng (王世堅), Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) and Lin Chung-mo (林重謀), according to campaign spokesman Emile Sheng (盛治仁). The anti-President Chen Shui-bian (
The threshold to initiate a recall motion against a legislator is 2 percent of the number of voters in an electoral district, while the threshold to put the motion to the vote is 13 percent of all voters in the district following a review by the Central Election Committee.
Although the drive was aimed at pressuring pan-green legislators into voting for the presidential recall motion, the drive would continue after the vote, Sheng said.
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