Prosecutors charge 118 over protests

TAIPEI: Prosecutors in Taiwan yesterday charged 118 people over protests last year that saw demonstrators occupy the country’s parliament for several weeks.

Thousands of protesters took part in street demonstrations, dubbed the “Sunflower Movement”, against a controversial trade pact with China in March, with more than 200 storming parliament.

Prominent student leaders Lin Feifan and Chen Wei-ting, along with 20 other protesters, are charged with inciting t he public and interfering with public functions, according to a document released by the Taipei prosecutors’ office.

The remainder of those charged are accused of invading government offices and attacking police.

“We’ve sent the case to the district court today,” chief prosecutor Chang Jieh-chin said.

Activist Lai Chung-chiang, who took part in the demonstrations but was not among those indicted yesterday, decried the charges.

“What we did wasn’t a crime. It was the Kuomintang government’s move that forced us to take the law into our own hands,” he said, referring to the Chinafriendly ruling Kuomintang party.

“Despite a few radical conflicts, the protests were otherwise peaceful.”

The services trade pact is designed to further open up trade in services between China and Taiwan, which split 65 years ago after a civil war.