freedom of assembly and parade. Upon investigation and subsequent followup by the Control Yuan, Kaohsiung City Government will set up an “opinion
zone” to let the public exercise their freedom of speech. The prosecutors’
opinions will also be solicited should there be any questions about the use of
enforcement, to prevent excessive force and ensure the people’s interests and
rights are not affected adversely.
127. On December 23, 2017, Taipei City Police Department used force to limit the
movement of three attorneys-at-law who had identified themselves as helping
the public and took them away from the site when dealing with the assembly
and parade for “Objection to Unjust Amendments to the Labor Standards Act
and Protection of Labor Interests and Rights”. However, if the attorneys-atlaw were participating in a legal assembly and march to express their opinion,
or provide legal advice onsite to help the public protect their interests and
rights, and were free from any misconduct, the competent authority should not
allow the police to exercise discretionary coercive force on them. Upon
investigation and subsequent follow-up by the Control Yuan, the Taipei City
Police Department added related operating procedures for dealing with crowd
activities on January 18, 2018.
128. The Assembly and Parade Act was enacted to govern the necessity and
boundaries of the intervention of public powers in the peoples’ freedom of
assembly as provided under the Constitution. The Act also confers on the
police authority certain discretionary powers to make decisions and implement
measures at the time and place of the assembly, provided that it should be
subject to the proportionality referred to in Article 26 of the same Act.
Uncertainties created in incidents such as the police “ordering the dispersal”
of the whole assembly before “stopping” a few incidents of misconduct, as
well as protesters not being allowed to raise objections against the police using
excessively forceful measureat the time and place they occur, should be
subject to further discussion. Upon investigation and subsequent follow-up by
the Control Yuan, the Taipei City Police Department amended the related
operating requirements and strengthened the educational training on human
rights and rule of law for police officers.
129. The Special Rapporteur on Agenda No. 3 of the 20th Meeting of the United
Nations Human Rights Council, Mr. Maina Kiai, mentioned in his report that
“A nation should ensure that the administrative personnel and law enforcers
have already undergone adequate training on the freedom of peaceful
assembly,” in order to protect the public engaging in protest movements under
the regulation exercised by law enforcers in line with international human rights
norms. When planning educational training concerning assembly and march,
the police authorities usually adopt their habitual practices of control, and fail
to integrate human rights principles. From 2016 to 2018, there were more than
100 protest assemblies involving the special guard service, yet the National
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