Joint Press Conference Urging the Control Yuan to Investigate the Police Arrest of Citizens and Lawyers During the December 23 Labor Standards Act Protest

We remember December 23, 2017, when people took to the streets to voice their demands regarding the controversy surrounding amendments to the Labor Standards Act, undeterred by the layers of barricades and police deployment surrounding the Presidential Office, thereby exercising their freedom of expression guaranteed by the Constitution. That evening, as citizens attempted to disperse and leave from East Gate 3 of the Taipei Railway Station, they were surrounded by layers of police forces who prohibited them from leaving. Several lawyers who were present to provide legal assistance were likewise surrounded by police and unable to leave the scene. Subsequently, the on-site protest commander, "without stating any legal basis," ordered the arrest of those present, bound them with plastic zip ties, and dumped them at various locations, violating citizens' rights and restricting lawyers from exercising their professional duties.

On December 24 of the same year, multiple civil society organizations and the Taipei Bar Association issued stern statements regarding the aforementioned incident, demanding an investigation and explanation of the decision-making process behind this arrest operation, accountability for negligent personnel, and an apology. Recently, the Ministry of the Interior issued an official reply deflecting responsibility, claiming that this incident was the responsibility of the Taipei City Police Department regarding the maintenance of regional public safety and traffic order, and since the Taipei City Government has yet to review any related operational or law enforcement deficiencies, the Ministry of the Interior "respects the measures taken by the competent authority."

As for the Taipei City Government, it argued that the law enforcement on that evening was appropriate and necessary. It claimed that individuals at the scene who identified themselves as lawyers and wished to leave were allowed to do so, while those who did not identify themselves were taken away in vehicles, and that those who voluntarily boarded the vehicles did so of their own accord. However, several lawyers had clearly identified themselves beforehand, and some lawyers even attempted to communicate with the on-site commander to reiterate that the police had no right to restrict personal freedom. Yet, the on-site commander still ordered the forced arrest of citizens and lawyers who came to provide professional assistance onto vehicles in the absence of any legal basis, all of which is documented on video. The Taipei City Government still insists that the lawyers "voluntarily boarded the vehicles" and that the police "respected their wishes." We express our deepest regret and declare the following:

1. Urging the Control Yuan to Investigate Illegal Police Arrests

   During assemblies and processions, the common practical tactic employed by the police of grabbing participants and driving them to remote locations (commonly referred to as "dumping") not only lacks a legal basis but also constitutes illegal restriction of freedom. On this occasion, the Executive Yuan, the Ministry of the Interior, and the Taipei City Government all subsequently expressed that the police law enforcement was free of impropriety. Minister of the Interior Yeh Chiun-yung even stated that this was the police's "compassionate heart," which disguisedly encourages police to resort to illegal measures in the future, openly violating the principle of the rule of law and proving entirely inappropriate.

2. Lawyers Independently Exercise Their Duties to Safeguard People's Rights, Which Must Not Be Infringed

   "Lawyers have a mission to safeguard human rights, realize social justice, and promote democracy and the rule of law," as explicitly stipulated in Paragraph 1, Article 1 of the Attorney Regulation Act. Furthermore, according to Principle 16 of the "UN Basic Principles on the Role of Lawyers," which states: "Governments shall ensure that lawyers (a) are able to perform all of their professional functions without intimidation, hindrance, harassment or improper interference; (b) are able to travel to and to consult with their clients freely both within their own country and abroad; and (c) shall not suffer, or be threatened with, prosecution or administrative, economic or other sanctions for any action taken in accordance with recognized professional duties, standards and ethics"; and Principle 17: "Where the security of lawyers is threatened as a result of discharging their functions, they shall be adequately safeguarded by the authorities." It is clear that lawyers are an essential umbrella for safeguarding the people's rights, and the space for lawyers to independently exercise their duties brooks no infringement whatsoever.

   In this arrest and dumping incident, law enforcement officers arrested "lawyers who had already identified themselves and were wearing lawyer robes" at the protest site, obstructing lawyers from providing legal assistance to protesting citizens. This has severely infringed upon the essence of lawyers' work in safeguarding human rights and is tantamount to forcing unarmed citizens to confront the state apparatus, dealing a heavy blow to Taiwan's democracy and human rights.

Over the years, when citizens take to the streets to voice their demands, in scenes where conflicts erupt, the police have long operated in a gender-unfriendly environment. Deployment and command failed to consider female police officers and female protesters, shielding them from or reducing their opportunities to face internal and external gender-based violence. The Ministry of the Interior and various police units still lack sufficient gender equality thinking and measures, let alone considering how crucial the presence of lawyers is when disadvantaged individuals take to the streets due to social inequality and injustice. The government's exercise of state power must be based on legitimate, constitutional legal content and due process rather than the premise that an unjust law is still law. Furthermore, the government should not allow illegal state violence to harm the rule of law and human rights, nor condone gender-based violence harming women on the streets. Fundamentally, legislative deficiencies in the Assembly and Parade Act and the Police Powers Execution Act, inadequate police education, and the judiciary's connivance of illegal acts have given shape to today's patterns of illegal police duty execution. Therefore, we put forward five demands as follows:

1. The ruling party should fulfill its promise to abolish the Assembly and Parade Act.
2. Amend the Police Powers Execution Act. In addition to amending the blanket authorization provisions in Articles 27 and 28 and strictly defining the requisites for detaining and restricting personal freedom, provisions should also be added regarding the right to lawyer assistance, the right of citizens to gather evidence, and the right of media to report.
3. The Ministry of the Interior and the National Police Agency should shoulder the responsibility of reforming police education, implementing the concepts of democracy, the rule of law, human rights protection, and gender awareness.
4. The police should publish standard operating procedures (SOPs) for law enforcement and revise them based on the opinions of scholars and experts.
5. The judicial authorities should follow the intent of the Constitution to protect human rights and should no longer connive at the illegal actions of administrative units.

We demand that government agencies apologize and penalize the responsible units, and we will file a petition with the Control Yuan, requesting members of the Control Yuan to promptly launch an investigation into this arrest incident to ensure that citizens' rights to assembly and procession and lawyers' space for performing their duties are not arbitrarily infringed upon by public authority, thereby providing the maximum degree of protection for human rights.

Attachments

1. Official Reply from Taipei City Government
2. Official Reply from Ministry of the Interior

Attending Representatives

Ch'en Ch'in-feng, Attorney-at-Law / Chairperson, Taipei Bar Association
Weng Kuo-yen, Attorney-at-Law / President, Taiwan Association for Human Rights
Hsü Wei-hsün, Associate Professor / Executive Member, Covenants Watch
Ch'en Pin-an, Attorney-at-Law / Deputy Secretary-General, Environmental Jurists Association
Ch'in Chi-fang, Secretary-General, Awakening Foundation
Ch'en Yü-fan, Attorney-at-Law / Executive Director, Judicial Reform Foundation
Ch'en Yu-hsin, Attorney-at-Law / Attorney Arrested and Dumped on Dec. 23

Organizers

Taipei Bar Association
Taiwan Association for Human Rights
Covenants Watch
Environmental Jurists Association
Awakening Foundation
Judicial Reform Foundation

Press Contacts 

Ch'en Yü-fan / Executive Director, Judicial Reform Foundation (02)2523-1178
Shih I-hsiang / Deputy Secretary-General, Taiwan Association for Human Rights (02)2596-9525