Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Taipei City Councilors yesterday released 53 photos they said showed police using force against protesters during demonstrations against a Chinese envoy’s visit to Taipei earlier this month.
The councilors vowed to continue investigating the actions of the police force during the protests.
One week after the Taipei City Police Department issued a booklet containing 66 photos of “violent protesters” during various demonstrations against Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait Chairman Chen Yunlin (陳雲林), the DPP councilors responded by releasing 53 “violent policemen” photographs.
Taipei City councilors Chou Wei-you (周威佑) and Chien Yu-yen (簡余晏) called on the public to help identify the police officers in the pictures, published on Chien’s Web site, www.yuyen.tw.
“President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) administration defined the demonstrations as violent incidents initiated by the protesters. But what was worse was the abuse of administrative power and that these police officers will not be punished,” Chou and Chien said in a statement released at a press conference at the Taipei City Council.
Chou, who previously accused a police officer of hitting him on the left eye while he was protesting against Chen in front of a hotel in the city, accused the Ma administration of using force against its own people to protect Chinese officials.
Chien said the publication of the photos was not meant to single out police officers, as most of them were just following orders from either the National Police Agency (NPA) or the National Security Bureau.
“We will find out who gave the order for the police to attack innocent civilians and confiscate the national flag” from those carrying it during the protests, she added.
Among the photographs released by the city councilors were shots of the police officer accused of hitting Chou, as well as Beitou Precinct Chief Lee Han-ching (李漢卿), who was in charge when police closed the Sunrise Records store after part of the crowd protesting Chen’s visit started dancing on the sidewalk in front of the store.
Although the NPA gave Lee an oral reprimand for his handling of matters in the aftermath of the incident, he was promoted to Shihlin Precinct chief on Tuesday.
Chien said the Ma administration had failed to adequately explain police violence and said the DPP’s Taipei City Council caucus would not give up until the matter had been settled.
Chou and Chien urged victims of police violence to contact the councilors’ offices.
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