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Prosecutors indict eight students for Zhang Zhijun rally
By Chien Li-chung and Jake Chung / Staff reporter, with staff writer
Eight student members of the Black Island Nation Youth (黑色島國青年) group, including convener Dennis Wei (魏揚) and National Taipei University law student Lai Pin-yu (賴品妤), were indicted on charges of obstructing pedestrian traffic yesterday by the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office.
The charges stem from when Wei and seven other students tried to block the advance of China’s Taiwan Affairs Office Director Zhang Zhijun (張志軍) while he was visiting New Taipei City on June 26. The eight activists attempted to stop Zhang’s visit by putting chains around their waists and sitting on the 10.2km marker on the municipality’s Sinwu Road.
As they protested, the students held billboards that read: “China is bullying its minorities; don’t try to be goodwill ambassadors,” while chanting: “The ambassador’s messing around; the people are angry.”
The students were taken to a police station in handcuffs after they failed to vacate the road after being asked to do so by the police.
While the students admitted to forming a human barricade on the road, they claimed that it is their civil right to do so and that their actions were legal.
They denied committing any legal offences.
Reporter Lin Yu-yo (林雨佑) of news Web site Newtalk took a few photographs of the police leading Wei and the other students away at the time, and later filed charges against the police for obstruction of freedom of the press, saying that the police officers had also restrained him.
The District Prosecutors’ Office said that three police officers had at first attempted to persuade Lin to leave the site voluntarily, but Lin insisted on running past barriers to take photos of Wei and the others being restrained with cable ties.
This led to him also being restrained by the police, adding that the police officers had been carrying out their duty in accordance with the law and as such, they were not indicted, the office added.
source: Taipei Times
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