Groups push for revision of Assembly and Parade Act

[Taipei Times Oct. 5th, 2011]

Human rights groups renewed their call yesterday for the government to revise the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法), saying it infringes on basic human rights.

Led by the Taiwan Association for Human Rights, the groups gathered in front of the legislature in Taipei and urged the lawmakers to review the proposed revisions to the act during their current session.
They also asked the Council of Grand Justices to respond to a request for a constitutional interpretation of the act filed a year ago.

Several clauses in the act, particularly Article 4 and Article 6, have stirred controversy in recent years.
Article 4 prohibits people from advocating communism or secessionism during street protests, while Article 6 states that protests should not be held in the vicinity of the Presidential Office, Executive Yuan or any other major government agencies without prior permission from the authorities.
Tsai Chi-hsun (蔡季勳), secretary-general of the association, accused the legislature of being idle and government officials of “passing the buck.”

She said the demonstrators were appealing mainly for the act to be revised so that protesters could have the freedom to decide whether to notify authorities in advance of demonstrations and not be treated as suspects.
The groups are also pushing for regulation of police and prosecutors’ power to arrest and indict protesters, she said.
Seven or eight versions of revisions have been proposed by different groups since 2008, when a “Wild Strawberries” student protest was held, she said.

That protest began ahead of a visit by Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait Chairman Chen Yunlin (陳雲林) to Taipei from Nov. 3 to 7, 2008, and continued for two months.
Tsai said her group only supports the revisions proposed by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Chu Fong-chi (朱鳳芝) and Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Chiu Yi-ying (邱議瑩) because their versions are in line with the group’s views.

The revisions proposed by the Executive Yuan would still require protesters to obtain advance permission for a demonstration, which Tsai said was not satisfactory to her group.

Pan Han-chiang (潘翰疆), head of a tree protection group, said police were “criminals,” and the streets “should be returned to the people.”

Pan was questioned by prosecutors on suspicion of violating the act after he attempted — without permission — to prevent authorities from chopping down old trees in a park to clear the way for the construction of a police station.
Lee Ming-tsung (李明璁), a National Taiwan University law professor who was indicted in 2009 for initiating a “Wild Strawberries” sit-in without permission, said both President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) and DPP Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) were apathetic, and he called on them to take action to amend the act.