Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) yesterday said the city “does not tolerate violence” after the Taipei City Council reported death threats over a planned screening today of a documentary on alleged forced organ harvesting in China.
The council’s report follows a flurry of similar threats targeting theaters and institutions screening the documentary, titled State Organs, which accuses Chinese officials of harvesting organs from incarcerated dissidents and Falun Gong members.
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) city councilors who planned to screen the film told a news conference earlier yesterday that the organizers of the screening had received a threat of a knife attack signed by a person identifying themself as Lee Hung-shan (李洪山).
Photo: Screen grab from the State Organs Facebook page
Police from the Taipei City Police Department’s Xinyi Precinct recommended that the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office investigate the case, Chiang told reporters on the sidelines of an event.
The city firmly defends freedom of speech and does not tolerate violence or threats, he said.
“Lee” used the event’s Google Drive sign-up sheet to issue the threat and reserved 10 seats, said DPP Taipei City Councilor Hung Chien-yi (洪健益), who organized the screening.
“This threat is an attack on the highest democratic institution of our city and the public’s right to be informed,” Hung said.
The Taipei City Council’s DPP caucus would not bow to threats of violence and would staunchly uphold the inalienable rights of Taiwanese, Hung said, adding that Chiang was invited to attend the screening.
The caucus informed police of the incident and have pressed charges to initiate legal action, it said.
Lion Studio, the documentary’s local distributor, has been receiving threatening letters since Oct. 3, studio representative Kuan Chien-chung (管建忠) said.
The studio and movie theaters that show the film have received more than 40 threatening messages, causing some cinemas to cancel screenings, Kuan said.
The Kaohsiung City Council also received death threats, DPP Taipei City Councilor Yen Juo-fang (顏若芳) said.
“The people making the threats should stop hiding behind their computers,” Yen said.
Police on Wednesday launched a probe after Taipei city councilors filed a criminal complaint and would secure Taipei City Hall with 51 officers, said Tsen I-chun (曾逸群), who heads the Xinyi Precinct’s investigative unit.
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