TPP to rally in support of detained ex-chair Ko Wen-je

Taipei, Jan. 4 (CNA) The Taiwan People's Party (TPP) has called on its supporters to take to the streets of Taipei on Jan. 11 to show their solidarity with the party's embattled former Chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲).

At a news conference on Friday, TPP Acting Chairman and Legislator Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) said the party would mobilize its rank-and-file members nationwide at Liberty Square to "demand judicial justice from the government."

Huang, without providing evidence, accused the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) of interfering with judicial and prosecutorial matters, and urged the public to "stand up against [the DPP's] authoritarianism" through protests.

Huang made the comments hours after the Taipei District Court ordered Ko, who has been embroiled in corruption cases, to be detained again during his third bail hearing on Thursday.

Ko, 65, was indicted on Dec. 26 on charges of bribery and other forms of corruption in connection with real estate dealings during his second term as Taipei mayor from 2018 to 2022.

He was also charged with embezzling political donations to the TPP during the 2024 presidential election.

The TPP has denounced the case as "political persecution."

The two-time former mayor who ran for president last year resigned on Jan. 1 from the party he founded in 2019, passing the baton to Huang.

Also on Friday, Eric Chu (朱立倫), chairman of the main opposition party Kuomintang (KMT), said in a social media post that he would "give his full support" to those expressing their discontent with the DPP on Jan. 11, but he did not say whether his party would participate in the TPP protest.

Chu also blamed the DPP for the Constitutional Court's recent decisions to put restrictions on the use of the death penalty and to revoke a bulk of the KMT-endorsed measures that would have granted the Legislature broader investigative powers.

On the other hand, Claire Wang (王婉諭), chairwoman of the New Power Party, criticized Huang's plans as "undermining the judiciary."

Wang, a legislator from 2020 to 2024, said she opposed any political party protesting under the banner of "political persecution" and "treating the judicial system as an enemy," adding that such actions would jeopardize democratic institutions.