AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL
PUBLIC STATEMENT
AI Index No: ASA 38/001/2008
3 December 2008
Taiwan: Police should avoid using excessive force at upcoming protests
Amnesty International has urged Taiwan's police force to comply with international guidelines on the use of force and crowd control at the planned student protests on Sunday 7 December.
The organization also joins calls for the Control Yuan, the body mandated by the Taiwan Constitution with supervisory power over the Executive branch, to conduct an independent inquiry into alleged excessive police force during November's protests.
The Wild Strawberry Student Movement has staged sit-ins since 6 November to protest against what they consider the use of excessive force during the Taiwan visit of Chen Yunlin, chairman of the China-based Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait. Civil society groups in Taiwan are investigating multiple claims that individuals suffered head injuries and broken fingers at the hands of police during the protests.
According to police reports on 8 November, approximately 10,000 police officers had been deployed during Chen's visit; 149 police officers and 200-300 individuals were injured; 18 were arrested.
Taiwanese civil society groups claim that police have applied the Assembly and Parade Law arbitrarily to silence dissent. According to the students' spokesperson, they will not seek police approval, as required by the law, but will only "report" their plans to law enforcement authorities, in line with amendments advocated by the Movement.
The Movement is organizing the protest on Sunday 7 December to criticize the government's failure to amend the Assembly and Parade Law.
Amnesty International said Taiwan's Control Yuan should address the serious concerns raised by civil society in Taiwan and the government should cease the practice of using the Assembly and Parade Law to deny freedom of assembly and allow individuals to protest peacefully. Amnesty International also called on Taiwanese police and judicial authorities to ensure that they investigate any protesters accused of engaging in violence in a fair, transparent, and timely manner in compliance with international standards.
Background
On 3-7 November 2008, Chen Yunlin, chairman of the Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits, led a 60-member delegation from the People's Republic of China to visit Taiwan and meet with President Ma Ying-jeou.
The police barred protesters displaying Taiwanese and Tibetan flags and anti-China slogans along the routes taken by the envoy and confiscated or damaged some of these items. The police also closed a shop near the hotel where Chen Yunlin had dinner with Kuomintang honorary chairman Lien Chan when the shop loudly broadcast music from an album titled 'Songs of Taiwan'.
There were additional reports of arbitrary detention and police brutality, some of which, according to the police, were in response to the violence of protesters.
Following the visit, hundreds of students have staged sit-ins across Taiwan protesting the police's handling of the protests and demanding amendments to the Assembly and Parade Law, which has been misused to prevent protests.
On 6 November the students started their sit-ins outside the offices of the Executive Yuan or (Executive branch), where they were eventually removed by police on the grounds of illegal assembly. They continued the sit-ins at the National Taiwan Democracy Memorial Hall and organized a daily demonstration calling for immediate amendments to the Assembly and Parade Law, apologies from the president and head of government and the resignations of the heads of the police and national security.
On 18 November Taipei police announced a list of 66 "troublemakers", who had allegedly thrown gas bombs and stones at the police and spat at the Taichung mayor. There were also reports that the police had pressured journalists and their supervisors to hand over video tapes to identify suspects who allegedly took part in the violence.
END/
Public Document
For more information please call Amnesty International's press office in London, UK, on +44 20 7413 5566 or email: press@amnesty.org
International Secretariat, Amnesty International, 1 Easton St., London WC1X 0DW, UK
www.amnesty.org
國際特赦組織 籲台灣警察勿濫用暴力
〔記者陳宣瑜、黃敦硯/台北報導〕在野草莓一二○七大遊行前夕,國際特赦組織(AI)在日前發文公開聲明,敦促台灣警方,大遊行當天的警力運用和群眾管制應遵守國際標準。
促允許人民和平抗爭
國際特赦組織聲明也指出,「野草莓學生運動」認為警方在處理陳雲林訪台期間的群眾抗議活動,過度使用暴力,因此從十一月六日起發動靜坐抗議至今,台灣的公民社會團體也在進行調查,民眾在抗議過程中遭警察打傷頭部和折斷手指等事件。
國際特赦組織同時呼籲,監察院應正視台灣公民團體所提出的嚴重關切,應停止利用集遊法箝制人民的集會自由,並應允許人民以和平方式從事抗議行動。
(中文原文:http://www.amnesty.tw/?p=597;英文原文:http://www.amnestyusa.org/document.php?lang=e&id=ENGASA380012008)
6 則留言:
可惜
在台灣沒有多少人會關切這種報導吧!
政府更是視而不見啊....
說要當全民總統的人自己都跟駝鳥一樣
把頭埋進土裡假裝看不見
悲哀啦!
在解嚴前,國際人權組織也常關切台灣人權,甚至提供幫助.但自李登輝執政後至陳水扁當政二十年間,此問題不復存在,台灣成為關切人權的主體,而非被人權關切的客體.
然而自邪惡尤甚七爺八爺的九爺當道,實行白恐復辟,除了否定民主,剝奪自由,侵害人權,踐踏法治外,更扼殺了經濟!此一附和共產極權的時代逆流與新冷戰的勢態,必將為國際民主陣營所消滅!
自從馬英九上任後我就有這個準備了!
可否請將所有相關的報導匯整起來(昨天大話新聞提及六個人權組織),並將之張貼於貴部落格上,因為我想藉此讓我那些對事情真相不了解的朋友知道究竟國際對台灣現況的評價。謝謝!
馬不是視而不見,而是在他的心中,終極統一回歸祖國的目標比人權、自由、法治和民主來得重要。
據我所知,這只頑劣的馬桶並不會理會這些國際非政府組織的關切,除非外國政府或國際政府組織或國際法院發表公開譴責,或進行人道干涉或調查,他馬的是不會死心的!至少現在仍以與中國"和平對話"為藉口進行人權犯罪,直到謊言被戳破為止!
張貼留言