Rights advocates criticized New Taipei City police officers for entering a church in pursuit of migrant workers suspected of a crime, saying the officers infringed on churchgoers’ rights and the church’s role as a spiritual sanctuary.
On May 28, police officers from the Shulin Precinct spotted three people while on patrol who they suspected to be members of a fraud ring sent to pick up money.
The officers said in a statement on Monday that they saw the three people run into the Sacred Heart of Jesus Catholic Church in Shulin District (樹林) and followed them in.
Photo: George Tsorng, Taipei Times
A mass was under way at the time, the statement said.
Surveillance footage showed the officers chasing three people up a staircase before they caught and arrested one.
The other two suspects got away, the footage showed.
Peter Nguyen Van Hung, director of the Vietnamese Migrant and Immigrant Office of the Catholic Church’s Hsinchu Diocese, on Monday criticized the actions of the officers and reiterated his stance at a news conference yesterday.
While preaching at the church on May 28, officers chased migrant workers to the second floor without informing the church or gaining permission to enter, he said.
He called on the National Human Rights Commission and the National Police Agency to say whether the officers’ behavior was acceptable.
Chien Chang-jung (簡長榮), director of the Labor Concern Center at the Presbyterian Church in Taiwan, said that the officers’ approach was “brutal.”
Faith is a shelter and a source of inner peace for many migrant workers in Taiwan, Chien said.
The incident runs counter to Taiwan’s image as a bastion of freedom and democracy, and law enforcement agents should review whether the matter could have been handled differently, he said.
Lennon Wang (汪英達), director of policies on migrant workers at the Serve the People Association, said that the actions of the officers contravened freedom of thought, conscience and religion as defined in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which Taiwan has incorporated into its domestic law.
The actions also ran contrary to the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families, he said.
The police statement said that the officers did not know before the arrest that the man was a migrant worker, they did not enter the main part of the church where the mass was being held and the arrest was not conducted in view of the congregation.
The arrested man was a Vietnamese migrant worker who had left his employer, but he had no known connections to fraud rings, it said.
They have yet to determine the details of the other two people, police said.
UPGRADE: The Kang Ding-class frigate is replacing its Chaparall missiles with Tien Chien II and Hua Yang VLS, which would provide it with long-range, 360° air defense Taiwan plans to produce 1,200 to 1,376 Hai Chien II missiles (海劍二, Sea Sword II) — also known as TC-2N — to serve as the standard air defense system of the navy’s surface combatant fleet, a source said yesterday. Last week, the Hai Chien II, the naval version of the Tien Kung II missile (天劍二, Sky Sword II), completed a live-fire test in waters off the National Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology’s Jiupeng facility (九鵬) in Pingtung County’s Manjhou Township (滿州). The MIM72 Chaparral and other dated air defense missiles that currently arm Taiwanese ships have inadequate range to combat Chinese
REASONS FOR TRAVEL: An assistant professor said that proposed amendments to penalize drivers if they used drugs overseas would not deter people from traveling People who operate a motor vehicle under the influence of marijuana would have their driver’s license revoked, even if they used the substance while overseas, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications said yesterday, citing proposed amendments to the Road Traffic Management and Penalty Act (道路交通管理處罰條例). The amendments would also authorize the government to revoke the licenses of people determined to have used Category 1 or Category 2 narcotics, even if they were not operating a vehicle while under the influence of drugs, as well as ban them from taking the license test for three years, the ministry said. People aged 18 or
Shih Hsin University President Chen Ching-he (陳清河) yesterday issued a public apology for comments made in his commencement speech last week, stating that he has asked the school to suspend his duties and halt his wages for two months as a show of contrition. At the commencement ceremony on May 30, Chen said, “If you don’t manage your time well, or your own emotions, or your health, then I am telling every one of you — put a quick end to ‘you,’ because the world has no need for ‘you.’” The comments have sparked significant controversy online, and Chen through an open
Johanne Liou (劉喬安), a Taiwanese woman who shot to unwanted fame during the Sunflower movement protests in 2014, returned to Taiwan last night after being deported from the US. She is to stand trial in Taiwan for charges involving embezzlement, fraud and drug crimes. The Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB) said it took her into custody at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport and would first question her before transferring her to the New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office. She was arrested upon disembarking a flight from San Francisco that landed shortly before 7pm. Liou absconded to the US in 2019 after jumping bail
RSS