Premier Su Tseng-chang (
The protests, launched by the anti-Chen campaign on Tuesday afternoon abruptly after the mock "siege" of the Presidential Office in the morning, occupied Zhongxiao W Road and blocked traffic until 5am yesterday morning, as thousands of protesters sat or lied on the road.
"[Tuesday's] protests were illegal because they were not authorized. Since they were illegal, Ma, as the mayor, was supposed to take action, but he did not," Su said in his opening address to the weekly Cabinet meeting yesterday.
PHOTO: CHANG CHIA-MING, TAIPEI TIMES
Su said he was disappointed when he learned that the unlawful protesters had agreed to clear only half of the lanes they had occupied on Zhongxiao W Road, adding that Ma should have requested assistance from the Cabinet to help maintain order in the city.
Su said he had asked the Ministry of the Interior to clear up the mess, at which time the National Police Agency (NPA) and the Taipei City Police Department had agreed to urge the crowd to move off after 4am yesterday.
Referring to the common practice whereby mayors of the country's municipal cities are invited by the Cabinet to participate in the weekly Cabinet meeting, Su said he had hoped Ma would attend more frequently so that they could discuss mechanisms for dealing with incidents like the one on Tuesday. However, Ma never showed up.
"There have been 35 Cabinet meetings since I took office in January. [Ma] has only showed up twice," Su said. "I understand that he is a busy man now that he is the chairman of the Chinese Nationalist Party [KMT]. But it is Taipei citizens' hope that he would do more as a Taipei mayor."
Dismissing criticisms that the Taipei City Government had neglected its duty by allowing an illegal protest to continue into yesterday morning, Ma yesterday defended himself and said President Chen Shui-bian (
"Even though the Taipei City Government has considerable power, we do not have the ability to handle the people's anger at President Chen," Ma said during a press conference at Taipei City Hall.
Facing criticism from Su and other pan-green figures over the city government's indulgence of the illegal protest, Ma complained that it was the city government's "bad luck" that it had to handle disturbances caused by Chen.
Ma called on the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) to recognize the cause of the demonstrations and solve the issue.
"Whose family is so corrupt that millions of people protest against them on the streets? Is it helpful to criticize me every day?" he asked.
Arguing that the police department had handled the situation properly in accordance with the law, Ma insisted that it was unnecessary to disperse the crowd.
"The police were facing citizens, not enemies ... When the protesters outnumber the police, the police should first monitor the situation, rather than immediately use force to disperse the crowd," he said.
According to Ma, anti-Chen campaign organizers had promised the city government that the crowd would return to the Taipei Railway Station before 12am. However, the organizers were unable to persuade all of the protesters to leave the road, Ma said.
Once it became apparent that the situation was beyond the anti-Chen camp organizers' control, Ma said that he had asked Taipei City Police Department Commissioner Wang Chou-chiun (王卓鈞) to disperse the crowd at 4am, when its numbers had diminished and the police would meet with less resistance. Ma said he made the request at 2am.
"The National Police Agency [NPA] had nothing to do with our handling of the situation ... But if Su insists that the agency made a contribution, we will not argue with him," Ma said.
Wang said Ma and the department reached a consensus on dispersing the protesters.
"I think the mission was accomplished successfully," he said at the Taipei City Council.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of the Interior (MOI) yesterday urged the NPA to request that the Taipei police cancel already approved requests submitted by anti-Chen campaigners to hold more demonstrations this weekend.
Minister of the Interior Lee Yi-yang (李逸洋) urged the agency to pressure the Taipei Zhongzheng District Police Station to reject further applications for staging anti-Chen protests, citing outbreaks of violence during Tuesday's "siege" of the Presidential Office.
The Zhongzheng District station is in charge of reviewing applications for public rallies.
"The `siege' violated the Assembly and Parade Law (集會遊行法), causing disorder and paralysis of traffic and infringing on the rights and transportation needs of Taipei residents," Lee said during a press conference yesterday.
He blamed Ma for the mayhem, saying that Ma had "given free rein to protesters" and that "[Taipei] is in a state of lawlessness."
Fang Yang-ning (方仰寧), deputy chief of the Zhongzheng station, confirmed that the Assembly and Parade Law had been broken at the rally, calling occurrences of such unlawful behavior by anti-Chen protesters "a fact."
As to whether the station would allow this weekend's rally, Fang told the Taipei Times in a telephone interview that officials were evaluating the situation, but that a decision would be made soon.
NPA Spokesman Ma Chen-hua (馬振華) said that the agency would "recommend" to the Zhongzheng District Police Station that it nix the upcoming anti-Chen demonstration, but that the decision was ultimately the station's to make.
According to NPA Public Relations Director Huang Tsung-jen (
Later yesterday Ma said that the city police would make the best judgment based on its experience.
"We don't need directions from the ministry. The city government responds to the Executive Yuan, not the ministry," he said.
When asked to comment on pan-blue legislators' chanting protest slogans and displaying banners to embarrass the president during the Double Ten National Day celebrations, Ma said it was normal for the leader of a democratic country to face protests.
"It's unnecessary [for Chen] to feel that he has lost face over the incident. US President [George W.] Bush is often shouted at -- not only in the US, but also in foreign countries," he said at the KMT's headquarters.
As a party which used to strive for democracy with continuous street demonstrations, Ma said the DPP should not repress the people's right to express opinions through demonstrations.
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Editorial: Double Ten charade harms only Ma
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