Several Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) officials including Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) are to be summoned for questioning and then transferred to prosecutors for holding an illegal assembly in Taipei last night, the Taipei Police said today.
Chu and two others hosted an illegal assembly and are to be requested to explain their actions, the Taipei City Police Department's Zhongzheng (中正) First Precinct said, referring to a protest held after Huang Lu Chin-ju (黃呂錦茹), KMT Taipei's chapter director, and several other KMT staffers were questioned for alleged signature forgery in recall petitions against Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislators.
Photo: Tu Chien-jung, Taipei Times
Taipei prosecutors had filed a motion to detain Huang, chapter secretary-general Chu Wen-ching (初文卿), chapter secretary Yao Fu-wen (姚富文) and first district committee executive director Tseng Fan-chuan (曾繁川) over their alleged involvement in falsifying signatures in a campaign drive to recall Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers in Taipei.
They were all supporting a KMT-backed campaign to recall the DPP's Wu Szu-yao (吳思瑤) and Wu Pei-yi (吳沛憶), who represent Taipei's first and fifth electoral districts.
Prosecutors asked the Taipei District Court for permission to detain the four individuals and hold them incommunicado on suspicion of criminal forgery and violations of the Personal Data Protection Act, the Taipei District Prosecutors Office said.
Chu today said he hopes the court would be impartial with its ruling.
Chu yesterday called on party members to protest in the evening outside of the Taipei District Prosecutor’s Office, a restricted area where public assembly is not allowed.
The group, led by Chu, KMT spokeswoman Yang Chih-yu (楊智伃) and KMT Legislator Legislator Hsieh Lung-chieh (謝龍介), did not comply with repeated orders to disperse in accordance with the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法), police said.
Police last night did not forcibly disperse the crowd to avoid escalation, police said, although they called on individuals to follow the law and express their demands without disrupting order.
All matters related to the Assembly and Parade Act, including whether the protest took place in a restricted area and other disruptive behavior, are to be referred to prosecutors, Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) said.
The case would be referred to prosecutors, police said, and relevant persons would be notified to appear in person.
In response, Hsieh today wrote in a Facebook post, saying “I am guilty of fighting a dictatorial government! I am guilty of resisting injustice! I am guilty of leading the people in an uprising! I am guilty of protecting persecuted comrades!”
In a news conference today, DPP spokesman Justin Wu (吳崢) said that KMT officials clearly broke the law by holding a demonstration in a restricted zone.
Wu said the KMT, including Chu and Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安), broke the law and are using their political power to sway the judicial process, adding that Chiang should step down as Taipei mayor if he wants to put party politics above the rule of law.
DPP Taipei City Councilor Chen Hsien-wei (陳賢蔚) today went to the Control Yuan to formally make a complaint about Chiang for violating administrative neutrality and called for him to be impeached.
Chu said that there would be another demonstration next Saturday, calling on supporters to gather on Taipei’s Ketagalan Boulevard.
Additional reporting by Kan Meng-lin
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