Academics and human rights activists wrangled with law enforcement officials at a legislative hearing yesterday on whether to scrap the Assembly and Parade Law (
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Joanna Lei (雷倩), who presided over the hearing, said the law concentrated too much power in the hands of the police, who can use it as a pretext for dispersing protesters arbitrarily, she claimed.
"The [Assembly and Parade] Law infringes on constitutional rights," Lei added.
Up for discussion
Vice Minister of the Interior Lin Mei-chu (林美珠), meanwhile, took a conciliatory approach, telling participants that "everything was up for discussion" regarding the law, which, she added, has been amended many times since its enactment.
The ministry also plans to hold a hearing soon to discuss whether the law should be further revised or scrapped altogether, Lin said.
However, Fang Yang-ning (
"I can see that some of you aren't very happy to see me," Fang said to a crowd of stonefaced academics after taking the podium.
The deputy police chief argued that the recent anti-President Chen Shui-bian (
Freedom vs needs
"Yes, freedom of expression is vital to our society, but that freedom must be balanced with the need for law and order," Fang said, adding that the country was a place of diverse, sometimes conflicting political views and opinions.
As such, crowd control is necessary to prevent confrontation and chaos, Fang said.
Fang added that the Zhengzhong First Police District was overwhelmed while trying to maintain order amid the anti-Chen protests and needed the law to see it through the ordeal.
"We get situations where a protest leader will lead his crowd of demonstrators to an unauthorized area, dump them there and then leave." Fang said.
"At that point, that crowd becomes our responsibility," he added, referring to the Double Ten National Day protest against Chen led by former Democratic Progressive Party chairman Shih Ming-teh (施明德).
Shih led tens of thousands of protesters to Zhongxiao W Road and other areas in Taipei on Oct. 10 without applying for the appropriate permits to protest there.
Shih then reportedly left the demonstration soon after law enforcement officers began to forcibly remove protesters in the early morning of Oct. 11.
Wei Chien-feng (魏千峰), a member of Shih's campaign to oust the president, claimed that the Assembly and Parade Law was unnecessary as traffic laws and other regulations already in existence gave police all the authority they needed to keep protesters in line.
A magnitude 5.7 earthquake struck off Taitung County at 1:09pm today, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The hypocenter was 53km northeast of Taitung County Hall at a depth of 12.5km, CWA data showed. The intensity of the quake, which gauges the actual effect of a seismic event, measured 4 in Taitung County and Hualien County on Taiwan's seven-tier intensity scale, the data showed. The quake had an intensity of 3 in Nantou County, Chiayi County, Yunlin County, Kaohsiung and Tainan, the data showed. There were no immediate reports of damage following the quake.
A Taiwanese woman on Sunday was injured by a small piece of masonry that fell from the dome of St Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican during a visit to the church. The tourist, identified as Hsu Yun-chen (許芸禎), was struck on the forehead while she and her tour group were near Michelangelo’s sculpture Pieta. Hsu was rushed to a hospital, the group’s guide to the church, Fu Jing, said yesterday. Hsu was found not to have serious injuries and was able to continue her tour as scheduled, Fu added. Mathew Lee (李世明), Taiwan’s recently retired ambassador to the Holy See, said he met
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