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.
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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.”
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