Human rights groups renewed their call yesterday for the government to revise the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法), saying it infringes on basic human rights.
Led by the Taiwan Association for Human Rights, the groups gathered in front of the legislature in Taipei and urged the lawmakers to review the proposed revisions to the act during their current session.
They also asked the Council of Grand Justices to respond to a request for a constitutional interpretation of the act filed a year ago.
Photo: CNA
Several clauses in the act, particularly Article 4 and Article 6, have stirred controversy in recent years.
Article 4 prohibits people from advocating communism or secessionism during street protests, while Article 6 states that protests should not be held in the vicinity of the Presidential Office, Executive Yuan or any other major government agencies without prior permission from the authorities.
Tsai Chi-hsun (蔡季勳), secretary-general of the association, accused the legislature of being idle and government officials of “passing the buck.”
She said the demonstrators were appealing mainly for the act to be revised so that protesters could have the freedom to decide whether to notify authorities in advance of demonstrations and not be treated as suspects.
The groups are also pushing for regulation of police and prosecutors’ power to arrest and indict protesters, she said.
Seven or eight versions of revisions have been proposed by different groups since 2008, when a “Wild Strawberries” student protest was held, she said.
That protest began ahead of a visit by Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait Chairman Chen Yunlin (陳雲林) to Taipei from Nov. 3 to 7, 2008, and continued for two months.
Tsai said her group only supports the revisions proposed by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Chu Fong-chi (朱鳳芝) and Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Chiu Yi-ying (邱議瑩) because their versions are in line with the group’s views.
The revisions proposed by the Executive Yuan would still require protesters to obtain advance permission for a demonstration, which Tsai said was not satisfactory to her group.
Pan Han-chiang (潘翰疆), head of a tree protection group, said police were “criminals,” and the streets “should be returned to the people.”
Pan was questioned by prosecutors on suspicion of violating the act after he attempted — without permission — to prevent authorities from chopping down old trees in a park to clear the way for the construction of a police station.
Lee Ming-tsung (李明璁), a National Taiwan University law professor who was indicted in 2009 for initiating a “Wild Strawberries” sit-in without permission, said both President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) and DPP Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) were apathetic, and he called on them to take action to amend the act.
Taiwan has received more than US$70 million in royalties as of the end of last year from developing the F-16V jet as countries worldwide purchase or upgrade to this popular model, government and military officials said on Saturday. Taiwan funded the development of the F-16V jet and ended up the sole investor as other countries withdrew from the program. Now the F-16V is increasingly popular and countries must pay Taiwan a percentage in royalties when they purchase new F-16V aircraft or upgrade older F-16 models. The next five years are expected to be the peak for these royalties, with Taiwan potentially earning
STAY IN YOUR LANE: As the US and Israel attack Iran, the ministry has warned China not to overstep by including Taiwanese citizens in its evacuation orders The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday rebuked a statement by China’s embassy in Israel that it would evacuate Taiwanese holders of Chinese travel documents from Israel amid the latter’s escalating conflict with Iran. Tensions have risen across the Middle East in the wake of US and Israeli airstrikes on Iran beginning Saturday. China subsequently issued an evacuation notice for its citizens. In a news release, the Chinese embassy in Israel said holders of “Taiwan compatriot permits (台胞證)” issued to Taiwanese nationals by Chinese authorities for travel to China — could register for evacuation to Egypt. In Taipei, the ministry yesterday said Taiwan
Taiwan is awaiting official notification from the US regarding the status of the Agreement on Reciprocal Trade (ART) after the US Supreme Court ruled US President Donald Trump's global tariffs unconstitutional. Speaking to reporters before a legislative hearing today, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) said that Taiwan's negotiation team remains focused on ensuring that the bilateral trade deal remains intact despite the legal challenge to Trump's tariff policy. "The US has pledged to notify its trade partners once the subsequent administrative and legal processes are finalized, and that certainly includes Taiwan," Cho said when asked about opposition parties’ doubts that the ART was
If China chose to invade Taiwan tomorrow, it would only have to sever three undersea fiber-optic cable clusters to cause a data blackout, Jason Hsu (許毓仁), a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute and former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislator, told a US security panel yesterday. In a Taiwan contingency, cable disruption would be one of the earliest preinvasion actions and the signal that escalation had begun, he said, adding that Taiwan’s current cable repair capabilities are insufficient. The US-China Economic and Security Review Commission (USCC) yesterday held a hearing on US-China Competition Under the Sea, with Hsu speaking on
RSS