Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Deputy Secretary-General Lee Ying-yuan (
Lin accused the DPP of purposefully inciting the violent confrontation on Ketagalan Boulevard on Saturday night. The rally had been called to back demands that a special task force be assembled to probe the election-eve assassination attempt on President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) and Vice President Annette Lu (呂秀蓮).
PHOTO: WANG YI-SUNG, TAIPEI TIMES
Lee yesterday delivered the defamation suit to the Taipei District Court.
Afterward he condemned the KMT-People First Party (PFP) alliance for fabricating false charges against the DPP.
"This is totally barbaric politics. The truth is the KMT-PFP alliance failed to control their supporters who turned the rally into violence, but the pan-blue camp can't face this consequence and therefore accused the DPP of doing it. This is beyond the limit of our endurance," Lee said.
Lee said Lin's accusation against the DPP was groundless. He said the lawsuit was necessary to restore the party's reputation.
Lee said although the KMT-PFP alliance has said it wants a probe to find the truth of the assassination attempt, it had actually lost the courage to face the truth.
"The KMT-PFP alliance instigated the demonstrators and tolerated the violent confrontation. They ignored the truth and the rule of law. They even shamelessly boasted that their actions were [carried out] in the name of a new democratic movement of Taiwan," Lee said.
In a statement about the lawsuit he read to reporters, Lee said that Lin had betrayed his democratic conscience by accusing the DPP of being behind the violence.
"The democratic demeanor of political figures is very important to the foundation of the country's political civilization. In contrast to the democratic conscience shown by President Chen, who approved an immediate vote recount and examination of his wound to clarify the suspicions over the election results, [KMT Chairman] Lien Chan (
Lee said Lin cannot justify his words by vilifying his opponents and he urged the public to condemn such "barbaric politics."
Lin has refused to retract his accusations, claiming he had "intelligence information" that showed that the DPP would instigate a vio-lent confrontation last Saturday.
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