Supporters of the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) clashed with police in Taipei yesterday morning during a rally that marked the one-year anniversary of a raid by prosecutors on then-TPP chairman and former Taipei mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲).
Police ordered about 1,000 rally participants to disperse at 9:25am, having first asked them to stop at 8:16am, as TPP Chairman Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) and the crowd attempted to cross the intersection of Aiguo W Road and Zhongshan S Road on their way to the president’s residence.
Ko’s wife, Peggy Chen (陳佩琪), and mother, Ho Jui-ying (何瑞英), were among the crowd along with several TPP lawmakers.
Photo: Lin Hsuan-ju, Taipei Time
The rally contravened the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法), as the organizers had not applied for a permit, police said.
As police and demonstrators pushed back and forth over temporary barriers, protesters chanted: “Return our road rights!”
Tensions eased at about 12:30pm, although the rally continued.
Photo: CNA
Speaking to supporters near the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall, Huang called the campaign a “brave step from the darkness” that began a year ago.
“On Aug. 30 last year, for the first time in Taiwan, the headquarters of a major opposition party and the residence of its chair were raided by prosecutors at the request of the ruling party,” he said.
On that day, prosecutors led police in raids on Ko’s home and his office at the party’s headquarters. Ko, who served as Taipei mayor from 2014 to 2022 and ran as a presidential candidate in last year’s elections, was taken to the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office for investigation on suspicion of corruption during his second mayoral term.
Prosecutors’ request to detain Ko and hold him incommunicado was approved on Sept. 5 last year.
Ko was indicted on Dec. 26 on four charges, including allegedly misappropriating slush funds of about NT$70 million (US$2.29 million) during his presidential campaign, with the total alleged amount in the case exceeding NT$93.71 million.
Ko has maintained his innocence.
“This case is strange, because everyone is still discussing which law I violated, while I have been detained for one year,” Ko said during a court session on Aug. 19.
He has been detained for most of the time since then, with a brief release on bail from Dec. 30 last year to Jan. 2 .
Huang accused prosecutors of working with the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and pro-DPP media, saying that the process highlighted the nation’s urgent need for judicial transparency.
The rally ended after its arrival at the president’s residence, where a representative received a petition presented by Chen.
The Aug. 30 date “has left a deep scar in the history of Taiwan’s democracy and rule of law,” Huang said, adding that the year-long investigation had made little progress and was fraught with information leakage, suppression and a lack of judicial independence.
Chen said: “I’m not asking President [William] Lai (賴清德) for a judicial favor or amnesty, but to give my husband — who was also a chair of an opposition party — a fair ruling.”
The Taipei Police Department said that Huang might have contravened the act, and his alleged destruction of barricades and physical engagement with police might also constitute illegal behavior.
It said it would refer the case to the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office for further investigation.
Meanwhile, the Democratic Progressive Party slammed the TPP, saying it had failed to apply for road access and had forcibly pushed past police barriers, injuring some police officers and demonstrating the party’s contempt for the rule of law and public order.
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