TPP rallygoers who clashed with police to face investigation: MOI

Taipei, Sept. 1 (CNA) The Ministry of the Interior (MOI) has said that people who clashed with police at a Taiwan People's Party (TPP) rally in Taipei on Saturday will be referred to prosecutors for investigation.

In a press release issued Sunday, the ministry said Taipei police had collected evidence of obstruction of public officials and coercion by "disorderly" rallygoers, as well as violations of the Assembly and Parade Act, which will be sent for investigation by prosecutors.

Amid the "severe pushing and jostling" by some rallygoers, eight police officers suffered injuries, including one who was sent to a hospital after losing consciousness, said the ministry, which oversees the National Police Agency.

The TPP, Taiwan's third-largest political party, held a demonstration near the National Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall Saturday to mark the one-year anniversary of a raid by Taipei prosecutors targeting former TPP chair and Taipei mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲).

Ko, who also ran as the TPP's 2024 presidential candidate, was taken into incommunicado detention days after the raid, on Sept. 5, 2024.

He was then indicted on Dec. 26, 2024 on four charges, including misappropriating slush funds of nearly NT$70 million (US$2.14 million) during his presidential campaign, with the total alleged amount in the case exceeding NT$93.71 million.

Ko has denied the charges, calling them politically motivated, and remains in detention as his trial proceeds.

Meanwhile, a separate controversy arose over an image from the rally showing TPP Chairman Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) with his left arm, microphone in hand, wrapped around the neck of a police officer.

The Interior Ministry said in its statement that police would investigate who had created and circulated an "AI-altered" version of the image in which the officer appears to be smiling, calling it an attempt to "seriously mislead the public."

Huang told reporters on Sunday that he had simply put his arm on the officer's shoulder, while citing the image of the officer smiling as proof that he had not been trying to strangle him.

The police officer, Chen Yu-chien (陳育健), head of the Internal Affairs Office at the Taipei Police Department's Zhongzheng First Precinct, told local media Sunday that while the image of him smiling had clearly been altered, he did not believe Huang was trying to harm him.