MCLC: Taiwan charges protesters

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MCLC LIST
Taiwan charges protesters
Source: NYT (2/10/15)
Taiwan Charges Dozens of Protesters in Takeover of Government Buildings
By AUSTIN RAMZY
HONG KONG — Prosecutors in Taiwan have charged dozens of protesters over an occupation of government buildings last year that sought to block approval of a trade pact with China.
Protest leaders including Huang Kuo-chang, a scholar, and Lin Fei-fan, a former graduate student, were charged Monday with counts related to the 23-day occupation of Taiwan’s legislature, including obstructing official business and inciting others to commit criminal acts.
A total of 118 people face charges, including 93 people for an hourslong effort to expand the protests by taking over Taiwan’s main government administrative building on March 23. The police used clubs and water cannons to clear the demonstrators, the most violent clash of the Sunflower Movement protests, with nearly 200 injured. Four people were charged with surrounding a police station on April 11, when the main body of protesters left the legislature.
Prosecutors have yet to state what sentences they will be seeking. Most of those charged were not identified in the prosecutors’ initial statement Tuesday.
“If I have incited anyone to do anything it’s to stand up to the abuse of power by President Ma’s government and to save Taiwan’s democracy from the verge of collapse,” Mr. Huang wrote on Facebook in response to the charges.
The occupation of the legislature began on March 18 when dozens of protesters, angered by the governing party’s efforts to push through a pact on trade in services with China, broke into the Legislative Yuan. Thousands of protesters then filled the streets over the following weeks to demonstrate against efforts by President Ma Ying-jeou and his party, the Kuomintang, to increase economic links with China, which considers Taiwan part of its territory that must eventually be reunified with the mainland.
Protesters argued that the pact, which would have lowered barriers on dozens of service industries including catering, Chinese medicine and finance, could harm local businesses and undermine Taiwan’s sovereignty.
The protesters withdrew more than three weeks later after the Kuomintang agreed to further review the pact and draw up legislation that would allow for increased oversight of agreements with China.
The deal has since been stalled in the legislature, with little expectation of passage before legislative and presidential elections in Taiwan next year.
by denton.2 at osu.edu on February 10, 2015
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