Military police deployed to guard the Presidential Office Building have been equipped with rubber bullets to deter protesters from taking actions that could compromise the compound’s security as they take part in a series of anti-nuclear rallies planned to be held on Ketagalan Boulevard in Taipei, military officers said yesterday.
Starting last night, demonstrations are to be staged on the boulevard in front of the Presidential Office Building to ratchet up pressure on President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) to respond positively to the demand made by former Democratic Progressive Party chairman Lin I-hsiung (林義雄) that the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant in New Taipei City’s Gongliao District (貢寮) be scrapped.
Lin enters the sixth day of his hunger strike today and has vowed that he will not end the fast until his demand is answered.
Photo: Chien Jung-fong, Taipei Times
The Department of Security Affairs at the Presidential Office proposed that military police officers be equipped with more effective deterrents to prevent the anti-nuclear activists from storming the Presidential Office Building during the rallies, as happened at the Legislative Yuan and the Executive Yuan complexes in Taipei last month, military officers said.
Officers yesterday confirmed that military police have been authorized to fire rubber bullets when necessary, adding that the order “came from above” last week after thorough deliberation and that the military police were “following the order.”
It was the first time that the rubber guns were used after the Department of Security Affairs purchased the devices, sources said.
Since Friday, the plainclothes military officers stationed in front of the Presidential Office Building have been carrying guns equipped to fire rubber bullets, although the non-lethal weapons have not been loaded, sources said.
These types of guns are considered non-lethal weapons because they can only be loaded with rubber bullets, but can still serve as an effective deterrent on people who might otherwise instigate drastic actions during mass protests, the sources said.
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