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進入《TAIPEI TIMES 焦點》 Mob gathers for vigilante justice
A crowd of people gathers at a police station in Tainan early yesterday morning following a rumor that a man suspected of cutting a young girl’s throat had been taken to the police station. Photo: Wang Chieh, Taipei Times
A MISTAKE: A crowd who believed there had been another child murder demanded police hand the suspect to them so they could beat him to death
By Jason Pan / Staff reporter
Authorities are still looking for a man who on Thursday allegedly injured a 12-year-old girl with a knife in Tainan, while erroneous reporting led to a crowd of would-be vigilantes besieging local police stations for many hours early yesterday morning.
The crowd first gathered at Tainan’s Yongkang Precinct, then converged in front of the city’s Fusing Police Station, only dispersing at about 4am.
Throughout the incident, the crowd of mostly young men demanded that police hand over the suspect, surnamed Huang （黃）, for punishment, and threatened police officers who tried to maintain order.
Several people shouted: “We are here to take justice into our own hands and beat the suspect to death.”
Their actions were sparked by a rumor on a Facebook page called “Baoliao Gongshe （爆料公社）” that “Huang slashed a girl’s throat and was taken into custody at the Fusing Police Station.”
Police clarified that it was not a random slaying of a toddler, but a domestic dispute in which Huang reportedly went to his ex-girlfriend’s house and took her daughter hostage during a dispute.
It was alleged the girl was cut accidentally when she tried to escape, police said.
Yongkang Precinct Police Chief Lee Hsi-ho （李西河） yesterday said they are trying to detain the suspect, who is still on the run, and was never at the precinct, or at the Fusing Police Station.
However, the crowd tried to storm the police station and police officials negotiated to allow some representatives to go inside to confirm the suspect was not being detained there.
Lee and other police officials were criticized by Tainan city councilors and political commentators for what they called their “feeble” response to the crowd and failure to enforce the rule of law.
“We understand the anger expressed by people in the aftermath of the little girl being slain in Taipei on Monday. However, it is wrong to incite people to besiege police stations, by which they interfered in the investigation into the case and impeded police efforts to track down the suspect,” Tainan City Councilor Lin Yen-chu （林燕祝） of the Chinese Nationalist Party （KMT） said.
“Police officials did not take strong enough action to stop the crowd and put up only a feeble response. This diminishes people’s confidence and trust in law enforcement authorities,” she added.
In response, Lee said the response by police was appropriate.
“We did not use force to disperse the crowd, because it might have exacerbated the situation and led to violence,” Lee said.
新聞來源：TAIPEI TIMES
