The Minister of Justice Chen Ding-nan (
Chen, who visited the site of the show yesterday, asked the police to ban it under the Social Order Maintenance Law (社會秩序維護法), the Tatung Police Station (大同分局) said. Police then persuaded the performer Lin Ching-feng (林青峰) to stop the show and leave.
An officer of the police station said yesterday evening that they were considering passing the case on to the courts under an article of the Social Order Maintenance Law that bans performances that "violate acceptable social conventions."
However, the officiating officer in the case acknowledged that the article is more about banning obscenity, and might not be applicable to the performance of a man living with snakes.
If the charge is filed, the performer and organizer of the show may receive detention penalties of no more than three days or a fine up to NT$12,000.
Lin appeared disappointed when he was asked to leave by police. "It's a pity," the 28-year-old air-conditioner repairman said. "I didn't do anything unlawful."
Police said that, since the show started, they have received many complaints saying the show was too dangerous.
Earlier yesterday while his performance was still on, Lin said he had "almost gone crazy."
The challenge of living with 100 poisonous snakes for 10 days was sponsored by Taipei shopkeepers. Lured by the NT$1 million award, dozens of daredevils signed up. Lin was chosen because he had played with snakes since a child. The show started on Friday when Lin began to live in a room with 50 poisonous snakes. More snakes were to be tossed into the room until they totalled 100.
Inside the room, there was a sofa bed, some bonsai trees and a toilet. Lin was dressed in fatigues in the hope that the snakes would take him for a tree. He also wore leather boots. Still, he could not sleep soundly out of fear that he might have fallen off the bed and land on the snakes.
"I sleep as little as possible. Being constantly on guard is driving me crazy," he said via the intercom.
Lin nearly gave up on Saturday when his parents and young daughter, all weeping, went to see him and pleaded with him to quit. Lin refused to quit because he wanted to win the prize and to prove that people can live peacefully with poisonous snakes.
SECURITY: As China is ‘reshaping’ Hong Kong’s population, Taiwan must raise the eligibility threshold for applications from Hong Kongers, Chiu Chui-cheng said When Hong Kong and Macau citizens apply for residency in Taiwan, it would be under a new category that includes a “national security observation period,” Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said yesterday. President William Lai (賴清德) on March 13 announced 17 strategies to counter China’s aggression toward Taiwan, including incorporating national security considerations into the review process for residency applications from Hong Kong and Macau citizens. The situation in Hong Kong is constantly changing, Chiu said to media yesterday on the sidelines of the Taipei Technology Run hosted by the Taipei Neihu Technology Park Development Association. With
A US Marine Corps regiment equipped with Naval Strike Missiles (NSM) is set to participate in the upcoming Balikatan 25 exercise in the Luzon Strait, marking the system’s first-ever deployment in the Philippines. US and Philippine officials have separately confirmed that the Navy Marine Expeditionary Ship Interdiction System (NMESIS) — the mobile launch platform for the Naval Strike Missile — would take part in the joint exercise. The missiles are being deployed to “a strategic first island chain chokepoint” in the waters between Taiwan proper and the Philippines, US-based Naval News reported. “The Luzon Strait and Bashi Channel represent a critical access
‘FORM OF PROTEST’: The German Institute Taipei said it was ‘shocked’ to see Nazi symbolism used in connection with political aims as it condemned the incident Sung Chien-liang (宋建樑), who led efforts to recall Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Lee Kun-cheng (李坤城), was released on bail of NT$80,000 yesterday amid an outcry over a Nazi armband he wore to questioning the night before. Sung arrived at the New Taipei City District Prosecutors’ Office for questioning in a recall petition forgery case on Tuesday night wearing a red armband bearing a swastika, carrying a copy of Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf and giving a Nazi salute. Sung left the building at 1:15am without the armband and apparently covering the book with a coat. This is a serious international scandal and Chinese
COUNTERINTELLIGENCE TRAINING: The ministry said 87.5 percent of the apprehended Chinese agents were reported by service members they tried to lure into becoming spies Taiwanese organized crime, illegal money lenders, temples and civic groups are complicit in Beijing’s infiltration of the armed forces, the Ministry of National Defense (MND) said in a report yesterday. Retired service members who had been turned to Beijing’s cause mainly relied on those channels to infiltrate the Taiwanese military, according to the report to be submitted to lawmakers ahead of tomorrow’s hearing on Chinese espionage in the military. Chinese intelligence typically used blackmail, Internet-based communications, bribery or debts to loan sharks to leverage active service personnel to do its bidding, it said. China’s main goals are to collect intelligence, and develop a
RSS