some rethinking. When public servants exercise government powers, the
people usually are the disadvantaged. This is against the law makers’ intent
and also substantially restricts the people’s freedom of assembly, thus
violating the freedom of assembly protected under Article 14 of the
Constitution and the proportionality defined in Article 23 thereof.
125. The case of the protest against eviction by Daguang Community members at
the inauguration ceremony of the National Housing and Urban Regeneration
Center on August 2, 2018, and the case of the protest raised by the same
members at Jiangcui Elementary School on August 4, 2018 both incidentally
impinged on the President’s security on those days. Therefore, the police
authorities in the area, the Taipei City Police Department and the Haishan
Precinct of the New Taipei City Police Department, not only monitored the
assembly and march in accordance with the Assembly and Parade Act and
Police Power Exercise Act, but also confined the people participating in the
assembly to a pre-defined and circumscribed zone to state their opinion, in
accordance with Article 12 of the Special Guard Service Act. However, the
setup of the zone was not communicated to the protesters prior to the assembly
and march. The zone, for which its location, area and time was inconsistently
defined, not only restricted the protesters’ personal freedom, but also made it
very difficult for the protesters to communicate their claims to the authorities
effectively, thus impeding the public’s exercise of freedom of assembly. If the
National Security Bureau and National Police Agency wish to set up an
“opinion zone,” they must alert the public in advance of the location, area and
time applicable to such a zone. Meanwhile, the area and time made available
to this zone should also be proportionally adjusted to strike a balance in
preventing the people’s fundamental rights from being restricted and allowing
channels for expression of objections, while at the same time mitigating the
conflict in law enforcement between the President’s security and the people’s
freedom of association. Upon investigation and subsequent follow-up by the
Control Yuan, the National Security Bureau and National Police Agency now
publish the details of opinion zones in advance, in order to reduce any
unnecessary misunderstanding and conflict and inform the protesters of the
defined scope, time and controls.
126. In order to execute the Multi-functional Commerce Park urban plan,
Kaohsiung City Government evicted the residents in the area “Special Trade
4B” and demolished their housing. When the people supporting the residents
made a public petition on April 13, 2018, the Cianjhen (Chien Chen) Precinct
of the Kaohsiung City Police Department exercised excessive police force to
stop the public petition and this precipitated intense resistance and physical
engagement. The police exercised coercive force to remove the protesters and
take them away in police cars and put them “under protective custody”.
Clearly, the police authority exercised excessive restraints on the public
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