The National Security Bureau (NSB) and the Ministry of National Defense yesterday pointed the finger at each other over the action military police officers took against a woman who shouted "[President] Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁), step down" during the New Year flag-raising ceremony.
A group of officers carried the woman away and used towels to gag her, causing her to pass out. She was then taken to a police station before later being taken to hospital.
When the woman shouted "A-Bian [the president's nickname] step down," the officers shouted "Viva Republic of China" in a bid to drown her out.
Lieutenant General Hsu Li-mong (許立孟) of the bureau's special duty command center said that he had been awaiting punishment from his supervisor, Director Hsueh Shih-min (薛石民), since Jan. 3, but Hsueh had not yet come to a decision.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Lin Te-fu (林德福) criticized the NSB for deliberately delaying the process in the hope that the public would forget about the incident.
Hsu, however, said that there was a procedure to follow before any punishment was meted out. In other words, the bureau needed to hold a review meeting before handing down a verdict.
After calling a meeting on Jan. 2 to examine the implementation of security during the New Year ceremony, Hsu said that they discovered that orders had been carried out excessively and that the commander assigned to maintain order in the south parking lot, where the incident took place, should be held partially responsible.
Although he was in charge of overall security planning, Hsu denied that he was the one who ordered the military police to take such drastic action, adding that his order was to "implement the law strictly and handle the situation resolutely."
They would not physically disperse any protesters unless they first failed to talk them out of creating disturbances, Hsu said.
While Minister of National Defense Lee Jye (李傑) had pledged to mete out punishments but later changed his mind, KMT Legislator Joanna Lei (雷倩) said that she suspected his change of heart had something to do with his meeting with the president, who apparently endorsed the actions of the military police.
Secretary-General of the Armed Forces Police Command Wu Ying-ping (吳應平) said that the defense ministry and his command should not be held responsible because it was not their job to carry out special duties and if anything went wrong, it was the NSB's special duty commander center that should bear responsibility.
A study published by online booking platform Expedia revealed searches for travel to Taipei have ballooned 2,786 percent following the lifting of COVID-19 pandemic travel restrictions due to the city being a “designation dupe” for Seoul. The TikTok trend for duping — referring to substituting a designation for a more inexpensive alternative — helped propel interest in Taipei, it said in a consumer survey titled “Unpack ‘24,” which was conducted from September to October in 14 countries. Location dupes are “every bit as delightful as the tried-and-true places travelers love,” Expedia trend tracker Melanie Fish said of the year’s popular alternatives, which
SAFETY IN REGULATION: The proposal states that Chiayi should assess whether it is viable to establish such a district and draft rules to protect clients and sex workers The Chiayi City Council passed a motion yesterday to assess the viability of establishing a regulated red-light district. The council yesterday held its last session of the year, at which its fiscal 2024 budget was approved, along with 61 other proposals. The proposal to assess the viability of establishing a red-light district was put forward by independent Chiayi City Councilor Molly Yen (顏色不分藍綠支持性專區顏色田慎節). The proposal cited 2011 amendments to the Social Order Maintenance Act (社會秩序維護法), which stipulate that city and county governments can pass autonomous regulations on the sex trade to manage the industry and guarantee industry workers’ rights. A ban on the
A small-scale protest that called on the government to cancel its plan to welcome Indian migrant workers in a bid to tackle Taiwan’s labor shortage was held in Taipei yesterday. During the protest, comprised of a few dozen people staged in front of the Presidential Office on Ketagalan Boulevard, the protest’s chief initiator, a woman identified only as “Yuna” said they wanted the central government to reconsider allowing migrant workers from India to enter Taiwan. Most people in Taiwan had little knowledge about the potential plan to allow in Indian migrant workers until a report in the media last month, she
STABILITY AND CHANGE: Flagging in recent polls, Ko this week pledged to maintain President Tsai’s foreign policy, with an emphasis on improving China relations Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) Chairman and presidential candidate Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) yesterday reiterated that he is “deep-green at heart” in response to accusations that he is pivoting his campaign to align closer with the ideology of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) in the face of flagging polls. Ko made the remark at an agricultural policy conference in Taipei, repeating his comments from an interview with CTS News a day earlier. Ko told the CTS host that he would continue to pursue President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) national defense and foreign policy in general, but with an emphasis on establishing a rapport with