Protesters early yesterday gathered outside the National Police Agency headquarters in Taipei, spraying paint on a wall and demanding justice for police violence during the 2014 Sunflower movement. One person was arrested at the scene.
“Fourth anniversary of March 23,” protesters wrote on one of the building’s outer walls, referring to the day in 2014 when students and others protesting a controversial cross-strait service trade agreement attempted to occupy the Executive Yuan after occupying the Legislative Yuan.
Riot police at the time used excessive force against non-violent protesters, the protesters said.
Photo: Provided by a reader
Photographs taken on March 24, 2014, when riot police arrived at the Executive Yuan to evict protesters at about 5am, clearly show police beating protesters with batons, “splitting their heads open” and firing on others with water cannons, one protester said.
The images, which were published in international media, show police using excessive force, but the government says that the perpetrators cannot be found, they said.
About 10 people were involved in the painting yesterday, some of whom were also involved in the attempted occupation four years ago, the protester said.
The officers who beat protesters have still not been found and the government seems uninterested in determining responsibility, they said, adding that the group would address the media again once the protester in custody was released.
Prosecutors have failed to take any action against officers who acted violently, but have spent the past four years wasting resources to go after members of the public who were involved in the Sunflower movement, the protester said.
“They say they cannot find [the officers responsible] ... at first we thought that perhaps the government of [former president] Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) was incompetent or shameless,” a protester said, adding that they were disappointed that President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) administration has also failed to address the issue.
“Police who used excessive force should not be allowed to act like their actions were inevitable and right, and continue to hide under the protective umbrella of the system,” a protester said. “We demand that Tsai and [Premier] William Lai (賴清德) stop hiding from the issue and ensure justice for those who entered the Executive Yuan on March 23, 2014.”
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and
RSS