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Premier criticizes
Dapu protests as ‘acts of vandalism’
By Shih Hsiu-chuan / Staff reporter
Premier Jiang Yi-huah (江宜樺) was critical of the recent wave of protests over the
forced demolition of four houses in Dapu Borough (大埔) in Miaoli County’s Jhunan
Township (竹南) yesterday, telling a weekly Cabinet meeting that they were not
about “civil disobedience” as the protesters claim.
Jiang’s comments were relayed by Executive Yuan spokesperson Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文)
to the post-meeting press conference.
She quoted Jiang as saying that the actions of the protesters, including
throwing eggs that injured a police officer in Miaoli, splashing water on Deputy
Minister of the Interior Hsiao Chia-chi (蕭家淇) and acts of vandalism, “were not
in line with the ideas of civil disobedience.”
“The term ‘civil’ in civil disobedience means not only ‘citizens,’ but also
‘civilization,’” Cheng quoted Jiang as saying.
Jiang said it was “highly regrettable” that the protestors broke into the
Executive Yuan’s compound on Thursday last week, and splashed water and threw
eggs at the building, while others jumped over the walls into the Ministry of
the Interior’s compound to spray graffiti and plaster stickers on the building
and forecourt overnight on Sunday, Cheng said.
People should act in a peaceful and rational manner when protesting and abide by
the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法), she quoted the premier as saying.
The Executive Yuan backed the decision by police to take the egging of its
building to the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office for investigation, Cheng
said. Police charged the protesters with vandalism and violating the Cultural
Heritage Preservation Act (文化資產保存法), which protects the Executive Yuan building
because it is a designated heritage site.
The deputy minister said that charges could be brought against the protesters as
soon as police officers have finished collecting evidence and the damage to the
building has been assessed.
Among the demands of the anti-land-grab protesters are the revision of the Land
Expropriation Act (土地徵收條例) to scrap zone expropriation and having the
compensation for expropriated land be decided by three real-estate appraisers
instead of the government’s land evaluation commission.
Jiang said the demands were “unworkable in practice,” Cheng said.
Taiwan Rural Front spokeswoman Frida Tsai (蔡培慧) said Jiang should respond to the
issue of forced expropriations instead of criticizing protesters.
“The government, under your [Jiang’s] leadership, is the target of the protest,
and so your job is to respond to the dispute, not to try to cover things up by
making empty remarks,” Tsai said when asked about the premier’s comments.
“The heart of the issue is that the Land Expropriation Act has become a tool of
money politics. However, Jiang is not only avoiding the issue, he tries to blur
the focus by giving his own definition of ‘civil disobedience,’” she said.
“Are the demolitions in Dapu more justified or does it make it unnecessary to
amend the Land Expropriation Act because the protest movement is different from
‘civil disobedience’ as you [Jiang] define it?” she said.
Additional reporting by Loa Iok-sin
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