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Professor sues NSB,
police over protests
IN THE SPOTLIGHT: As well as facing accusations
of abuse of power, the nation¡¦s police force was criticized after an officer
carried an assault rifle at a peaceful student protest
By J. Michael Cole / Staff reporter
Taiwan Rural Front chairman Hsu
Shih-jung holds up copies of a lawsuit filed in Taipei yesterday against the
National Security Bureau and the Datong District police alleging illegal arrests
and the falsification of evidence.
Photo: Chien Jung-fong, Taipei Times
Taiwan Rural Front chairman Hsu Shih-jung
(®}¥@ºa) yesterday filed a lawsuit against the National Security Bureau (NSB) and
the Datong District police for illegal arrests and the falsification of evidence
during a July 23 protest in Taipei against forced evictions and demolitions in
Miaoli County¡¦s Dapu Brough (¤j®H) last month.
Hsu, a professor of land economics at National Chengchi University, was dragged
away by police officers during a protest against President Ma Ying-jeou (°¨^¤E)
and Premier Jiang Yi-huah (¦¿©y¾ì) in front of the Ministry of Health and Welfare
before being taken to a police station.
Police said they had arrested him for offenses against public safety and for
obstructing official business, though he was released later in the evening due
to ¡§lack of evidence.¡¨
In the days following the protest, Central Police University associate professor
Yeh Yu-lan (¸·¶Äõ) said that Hsu had attempted to ram Ma¡¦s motorcade and that he
had asked that officers take him to a police station, claims that Hsu has
categorically denied.
Hsu maintains that the protest was peaceful and that all he did was to shout
slogans at Ma¡¦s motorcade as it approached the ministry building.
Witnesses at the scene, including this correspondent, who was standing next to
Hsu as he was taken away by police officers, support his version of events.
Video footage of the incident made available on the Internet also shows a
plainclothes officer identifying and singling out Hsu, before ordering police
officers to take him away.
Hsu, along with Hung Chung-yen (¬x±R®Ë), a philosophy student at National Taiwan
University who sustained injuries to his head during clashes with police,
pressed charges against NSB Director Tsai Der-sheng (½²±o³Ó), Datong police
investigation brigade officer Lai Jun-yao (¿à«T³ó) and Datong Branch station
director Ou Yang-jun (¼Ú¶§«T) for illegal and arbitrary arrest, fabrication of
charges, injury and defamation, among others.
At a press conference outside the Taipei District Court yesterday morning, Hsu
said the abuses of power by the bureau and the police, including illegal arrests
and cooked-up charges, had crossed a constitutionally drawn ¡§red line¡¨
guaranteeing freedom of expression and the right of assembly.
Hundreds of lawyers have signed a petition supporting Hsu in the case and
several have offered their services pro bono to assist him with the case.
In related developments, student groups that have joined a series of protests
targeting officials in the Ma Cabinet were shocked on Thursday night when a
police officer showed up armed with an assault rifle during a candlelit vigil
near the home of Miaoli County Commissioner Liu Cheng-hung (¼B¬FÂE).
Liu, who has faced severe criticism for his handling of the Dapu demolitions,
told a forum last week that while it is the responsibility of public officials
to be benevolent, they must also have the ability to adopt strongman tactics
when acting in the public interest.
Asked for the reasons why a police officer was carrying an assault rifle at a
peaceful protest by students, the Miaoli County police department said the
decision had been made after ¡§a careful assessment of the situation.¡¨
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