Police early yesterday morning tore down tents in front of the Nantou County District Prosecutors' office where the wife of detained Nantou County Commissioner Peng Pai-hsien (
Peng has been held incommunicado on corruption charges since Nov. 14. His wife, Wu Wen-wan (
They erected tents in front of the district prosecutors' office in preparation for a lengthy protest. Wu said she would protest "until Peng is released."
But at around 2am yesterday local police moved in to tear down the shelters.
The police action met with no resistance. But Wu and others continued their protest at the site.
The police said they had moved in to break up the camp because the protesters had violated road traffic regulations.
Wu, however, criticized the police's behavior as "bullying women and elderly people" and claimed the police were acting under pressure from county councilors. Wu, Peng's mother and their supporters marched to protest against the council at about 11am.
Over the past five days, several councilors have criticized the protest and asked the police to ban it.
The majority of councilors are close to KMT speaker Cheng Wen-tung (鄭文銅), a staunch political enemy of Peng.
Protesters shouted outside the council, asking the elected officials to stop "dropping stones on somebody who has already fallen into a well" (落井下石), meaning that, in their interpretation, the council opponents of Peng were still suppressing his followers even after he had been detained.
Peng's supporters have claimed that his detention is the product of a political struggle.
Speaker Cheng received the protesters but said the police worked in accordance with the law, not the opinion of the councilors.
Dissatisfied with Cheng's comment, the protesters returned to their protest site and re-erected their encampment. The protest continues.
Peng is charged with misappropriating post-921 quake relief donations and unlawfully manipulating the contracting process for reconstruction projects.
Two pieces of paper were seized by the prosecution and adopted as evidence by the court in its ruling that Peng be detained.
The prosecution claimed the pieces of paper contained Peng's instructions to destroy material evidence, although it admitted that the written instructions were not in Peng's scripts.
Peng's supporters, however, said he was framed.
PLA MANEUVERS: Although Beijing has yet to formally announce military drills, its coast guard vessels have been spotted near and around Taiwan since Friday The Taiwanese military is on high alert and is closely monitoring the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) air and naval deployments after Beijing yesterday reserved seven airspace areas east of its Zhejiang and Fujian provinces through Wednesday. Beijing’s action was perceived as a precursor to a potential third “Joint Sword” military exercise, which national security experts said the PLA could launch following President William Lai’s (賴清德) state visits to the nation’s three Pacific allies and stopovers in Hawaii and Guam last week. Unlike the Joint Sword military exercises in May and October, when Beijing provided detailed information about the affected areas, it
CHINA: The activities come amid speculation that Beijing might launch military exercises in response to Lai’s recent visit to Pacific allies The Ministry of National Defense (MND) yesterday said China had nearly doubled the number of its warships operating around the nation in the previous 24 hours, ahead of what security sources expect would be a new round of war games. China’s military activities come amid speculation Beijing might organize military drills around the nation in response to President William Lai’s (賴清德) recent visit to Pacific allies, including stops in Hawaii and Guam, a US territory. Lai returned from the week-long trip on Friday night. Beijing has held two rounds of war games around Taiwan this year, and sends ships and military planes
Five flights have been arranged to help nearly 2,000 Taiwanese tourists return home from Okinawa after being stranded due to cruise ship maintenance issues, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications announced yesterday. China Airlines Ltd (中華航空), and EVA Airways Corp (長榮航空) have arranged five flights with a total of 748 additional seats to transport 1,857 passengers from the MSC Bellissima back to Taiwan, the ministry said. The flights have been scheduled for yesterday and today by the Civil Aviation Administration, with the cruise operator covering all associated costs. The MSC Bellissima, carrying 4,341 passengers, departed from Keelung on Wednesday last week for Okinawa,
US president-elect Donald Trump said he would “never say” if Washington is committed to defending Taiwan from China, but “I would prefer that they do not do it [ an attack],” adding that he has a “good relationship” with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平). “I never say because I have to negotiate things, right?” Trump said in an interview with NBC’s Meet the Press host Kristen Welker after saying he would not reveal his incoming administration’s stance on Taiwan’s defense in the event of an attack. Asked the question again, Trump, in a reference to China, said: “I would prefer that they
RSS