The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus, which has proposed amendments to the Assembly and Parade Law (集會遊行法), turned coy yesterday about the need to push the amendment for the time being.
Asked for comment, KMT caucus secretary-general Chang Sho-wen (張碩文) voiced his concerns about “violence” used by participants at the rally organized by the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) in protest against the visit of Association for the Relations Across the Taiwan Strait Chairman Chen Yunlin (陳雲林) last week.
Chang said more public deliberation was needed before the legislature could address the caucus proposal on scrapping the requirement that event organizers gain police approval before holding a rally.
Called “evil” by activists, the law, which took effect under the KMT administration in 1988, has long been regarded as an instrument used by the government to control the people and curb their right to freedom of expression.
Since then, the DPP has described the law, along with the National Security Law (國家安全法) and the Civil Organization Law (人民團體法), as a “trinity” of relics from the Martial Law era that serve the interests of those in power.
Some KMT caucus members proposed earlier this year to require that event organizers only “report” planned rallies to police rather than seek approval from law-enforcement authorities.
A similar proposal was initiated by the People First Party (PFP) caucus in 2006 during the campaign led by former DPP chairman Shih Ming-teh (施明德) to oust then-president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁).
A PFP motion in May 2006 to allow the bill to skip the legislature’s preliminary review won the support of 107 pan-blue lawmakers and was opposed to by 92 pan-green legislators during a vote.
The bill never cleared the legislative floor.
Aftershocks from a magnitude 6.2 earthquake that struck off Yilan County at 3:45pm yesterday could reach a magnitude of 5 to 5.5, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Seismological Center technical officer Chiu Chun-ta (邱俊達) told a news conference that the epicenter of the temblor was more than 100km from Taiwan. Although predicted to measure between magnitude 5 and 5.5, the aftershocks would reach an intensity of 1 on Taiwan’s 7-tier scale, which gauges the actual effect of an earthquake, he said. The earthquake lasted longer in Taipei because the city is in a basin, he said. The quake’s epicenter was about 128.9km east-southeast
The Taipei Summer Festival is to begin tomorrow at Dadaocheng Wharf (大稻埕), featuring four themed firework shows and five live music performances throughout the month, the Taipei Department of Information and Tourism said today. The festival in the city’s Datong District (大同) is to run until Aug. 30, holding firework displays on Wednesdays and the final Saturday of the event. The first show is scheduled for tomorrow, followed by Aug. 13, 20 and 30. To celebrate the 30th anniversary of Disney Pixar's movie Toy Story, the festival has partnered with Walt Disney Co (Taiwan) to host a special themed area on
BE CAREFUL: The virus rarely causes severe illness or death, but newborns, older people and those with medical conditions are at risk of more severe illness As more than 7,000 cases of chikungunya fever have been reported in China’s Guangdong Province this year, including 2,892 new cases last week, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) yesterday said it is monitoring the situation and considering raising the travel notice level, which might be announced today. The CDC issued a level 1 travel notice, or “watch,” for Guangdong Province on July 22, citing an outbreak in Foshan, a manufacturing hub in the south of the province, that was reported early last month. Between July 27 and Saturday, the province reported 2,892 new cases of chikungunya, reaching a total of 7,716
STAY VIGILANT: People should reduce the risk of chronic liver inflammation by avoiding excessive alcohol consumption, smoking and eating pickled foods, the physician said A doctor last week urged people to look for five key warning signs of acute liver failure after popular producer-turned-entertainer Shen Yu-lin (沈玉琳) was reportedly admitted to an intensive care unit for fulminant hepatitis. Fulminant hepatitis is the rapid and massive death of liver cells, impairing the organ’s detoxification, metabolic, protein synthesis and bile production functions, which if left untreated has a mortality rate as high as 80 percent, according to the Web site of Advancing Clinical Treatment of Liver Disease, an international organization focused on liver disease prevention and treatment. People with hepatitis B or C are at higher risk of
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