Ma: ... Taiwan has also become the freest country in the world for those wishing to assemble or parade.

[Taipei Times] EDITORIAL: Ma's ironic Human Rights Day

Thursday, Dec 11, 2008, Page 8

At the invitation of the Taiwan Foundation for Democracy, President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) delivered a keynote speech yesterday marking International Human Rights Day in Taipei.

In his speech, Ma expressed the wish that the legislature would speedily approve the UN International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights to show the importance Taiwan attaches to human rights. ...

[China Post] Ma calls for legislative endorsement of human rights covenants

President Ma Ying-jeou yesterday called on lawmakers to endorse two documents for the protection of human rights, but the opposition camp claimed that human rights conditions have been back pedalling since he took office in May.

Ma asked the Legislature to give its long-delayed endorsement to two international human rights documents to help implement human rights protection in Taiwan. ...

Comment:

By far the best statement is: In his speech, Ma said: “The government has worked incessantly to uphold human rights ... Taiwan has also become the freest country in the world for those wishing to assemble or parade.”

The freest country in a wold only including China and North Korea???
If not, Mr. Ma just lied in public and obvious for million of people.

Sorry, maybe I have always been in the wrong places in this world, but I would even call the cabinets ideas for a new assembly law are in my eyes extremely restrictive.

I presented the German Assembly law some time ago and there are much more liberal countries in Europe.

I live in a country with gay marriage, weed smoking and a liberal Jew as our capitals mayor and I would state, Mr. Ma has just been in the wrong countries.

Taiwanese Press on 1207 March of still fighting Wild Strawberries

... including some wrong reports that the protests ended:

[China Post] Students end sit-in with demonstration

TAIPEI, Taiwan -- College students demanding the right to hold public demonstrations without restrictions decided to end their month-long sit-in after staging a march in Taipei yesterday.

With supporters and sympathizers joining their ranks, the students marched on the boulevard that link the Anti-Corruption Plaza, the Legislative Yuan, and the Executive Yuan (Cabinet) in the capital to protest the regulations that they say limit people's constitutional right to demonstrate freely. ...

[Taipei Times] Wild Strawberry protest stays peaceful

EVERYBODY STAY CALM: The student protesters and supporters applauded police officers for only issuing warnings and not blocking them or clashing with them
By Flora Wang and Loa Iok-sin
STAFF REPORTERS
Monday, Dec 08, 2008, Page 1

The Wild Strawberry Student Movement marked its one-month anniversary in Taipei yesterday with a rally featuring a mock funeral for the nation’s human rights, attracting several thousand participants of all ages. The demonstrators, who only reported their planned event to the police instead of seeking approval from law enforcement authorities as required by the Assembly and Parade Law (集會遊行法), peacefully marched to the Legislative Yuan, the Control Yuan, the Executive Yuan, the National Police Agency (NPA) and Ketagalan Boulevard in front of the Presidential Office. ...

[Taipei Times] REPORTER'S NOTEBOOK: Wild Strawberries protest proves the skeptics wrong

Many people may have had reservations about whether the loosely-knit Wild Strawberry Student Movement would be capable of staging a successful and peaceful rally as planned when they heard that the students had decided not to report their planned protest to the police in defiance of the Assembly and Parade Law (集會遊行法). Even Ho Tung-hung (何東洪), an associate professor of psychology at Fu Jen Catholic University and a participant in the Wild Lily Student Movement (野百合學運) of the 1990s, expressed reservations when talking to the Taipei Times several days prior to Sunday’s demonstration.

Ho, who had been offering advice to the Wild Strawberries as a student movement veteran, had expressed doubts about whether the students would be able to handle such a large-scale rally. ...


[Tawan News] Taiwan’s Wild Strawberry Movement ends with a peaceful rally

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – On the one-month anniversary, Wild Strawberry Movement had assembled protesters all over the island to stage a demonstration in Taipei Sunday, protesting the “death of human rights” to Ma Ying-jeou government. Since the previous application for right of way was overruled, it is feared that clash may erupt between students and police officers. Fortunately, the four-hour rally came to an end in peace, with students expressing their gratitude to the police for the peaceful result. ...

[Taiwan News] Thousands turn out for Wild Strawberries demo in Taiwan

About 3,000 Taiwanese college students marched in the capital yesterday to protest a law that they say limits people's constitutional right to demonstrate freely.

The students, many in black shirts symbolizing impaired human rights, shouted slogans as they paraded in a downtown district with police and government buildings. ...

Changes in the Parade and Assembly Law in the Press

[Taipei Times] Cabinet proposes altering Assembly and Parade Law

The government yesterday answered a long-standing call by activists to scrap police powers to grant or deny protest permits, but offered the police instead new powers to bar or alter demonstration plans in certain cases.

The proposal to amend the Assembly and Parade Law (集會遊行法) approved at the weekly Cabinet meeting was described in a statement as “a big step forward in the nation’s development of democracy and the rule of law.” ...

[China Post] Assembly act to be amended

TAIPEI, Taiwan -- No police permission is necessary to stage a rally, according to an amendment to the assembly act the Cabinet adopted yesterday.

Under the current act, organizers have to file applications with police at least six days before the rally is to take place. Police permission is required. ...

[Taiwan News] Taiwan Cabinet approves to lift restrictions on protests

The cabinet approved changes in the Parade and Assembly Law yesterday in a concession to protesting students, while also rolling out the welcome mat for students from China.

Protesters will no longer have to apply for approval from the police for their event, a key demand of students who have been holding a continuous sit-in in Taipei since Nov. 6. Their action was sparked by alleged police brutality during protests against the visit of Chinese envoy Chen Yunlin. ...