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Groups push for revision of Assembly
and Parade Act
Staff Writer, with CNA
Members of the Taiwan Association
for Human Rights and other groups protest outside the legislature in Taipei
yesterday, calling on lawmakers to quickly pass revisions to the Assembly and
Parade Act to safeguard free speech and other basic rights.
Photo: CNA
Human rights groups renewed their call
yesterday for the government to revise the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法),
saying it infringes on basic human rights.
Led by the Taiwan Association for Human Rights, the groups gathered in front of
the legislature in Taipei and urged the lawmakers to review the proposed
revisions to the act during their current session.
They also asked the Council of Grand Justices to respond to a request for a
constitutional interpretation of the act filed a year ago.
Several clauses in the act, particularly Article 4 and Article 6, have stirred
controversy in recent years.
Article 4 prohibits people from advocating communism or secessionism during
street protests, while Article 6 states that protests should not be held in the
vicinity of the Presidential Office, Executive Yuan or any other major
government agencies without prior permission from the authorities.
Tsai Chi-hsun (蔡季勳), secretary-general of the association, accused the
legislature of being idle and government officials of “passing the buck.”
She said the demonstrators were appealing mainly for the act to be revised so
that protesters could have the freedom to decide whether to notify authorities
in advance of demonstrations and not be treated as suspects.
The groups are also pushing for regulation of police and prosecutors’ power to
arrest and indict protesters, she said.
Seven or eight versions of revisions have been proposed by different groups
since 2008, when a “Wild Strawberries” student protest was held, she said.
That protest began ahead of a visit by Association for Relations Across the
Taiwan Strait Chairman Chen Yunlin (陳雲林) to Taipei from Nov. 3 to 7, 2008, and
continued for two months.
Tsai said her group only supports the revisions proposed by Chinese Nationalist
Party (KMT) Legislator Chu Fong-chi (朱鳳芝) and Democratic Progressive Party (DPP)
Legislator Chiu Yi-ying (邱議瑩) because their versions are in line with the
group’s views.
The revisions proposed by the Executive Yuan would still require protesters to
obtain advance permission for a demonstration, which Tsai said was not
satisfactory to her group.
Pan Han-chiang (潘翰疆), head of a tree protection group, said police were
“criminals,” and the streets “should be returned to the people.”
Pan was questioned by prosecutors on suspicion of violating the act after he
attempted — without permission — to prevent authorities from chopping down old
trees in a park to clear the way for the construction of a police station.
Lee Ming-tsung (李明璁), a National Taiwan University law professor who was
indicted in 2009 for initiating a “Wild Strawberries” sit-in without permission,
said both President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) and DPP Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文)
were apathetic, and he called on them to take action to amend the act.
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