Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Chiayi County councilors yesterday blocked the newly appointed head of the county's police bureau outside the county hall, accusing him of mishandling clashes between police and protesters during the visit of Chinese envoy Chen Yunlin (陳雲林) to Taipei early last month.
Hsieh Wen-chieh (謝文傑) was only allowed to enter the Chiayi County Council after he apologized publicly for the melee by displaying a national flag.
Hsieh, who was the head of Taipei City Police's Zhongshan Precinct (中山分局) during Chen's visit, attended a handover ceremony presided over by Deputy Director-General of the National Police Agency Liu Chin-chang (劉勤章) yesterday morning, and proceeded to the council hall for questioning.
Dozens of DPP councilors blocked him at the gate of the council hall, while displaying photographs of police clashes with protesters during Chen's visit. They accused Hsieh of failing to safeguard Taiwan's sovereignty, saying his actions had caused considerable harm to Taiwanese.
The two sides refused to budge until Chiayi County Council Speaker Yu Cheng-ta (余政達) came out to negotiate. Hsieh finally agreed to apologize publicly for the clashes by carrying a national flag, saying he was willing to apologize if his handling of the matter had angered the councilors.
Forced to choose between a People's Republic of China flag and a Republic of China (ROC) flag, Hsieh said that he would of course choose the ROC flag because Taiwan is an independent, sovereign state and because he is an ROC citizen.
DPP councilors urged him to maintain public order and refrain from resorting to violence when dealing with the public.
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