Taichung, Dec. 23 (CNA) A police officer was injured but appeared to be in stable condition and six protesters were detained in an incident Wednesday night in front of the hotel where Chinese envoy Chen Yunlin is staying, Taichung City police said.
It was the first arrest and the most serious injury that occurred since a series of protests were launched Dec. 20 against a five-day visit by Chen, president of the Beijing-based Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits. Chen arrived in the central Taiwan city Monday for the fourth round of cross-strait talks with his Taiwan counterpart, chairman of the Straits Exchange Foundation. The talks concluded the previous day with three agreements inked.
Chen Chu-hsiang, a police officer in the Criminal Investigative Corps, sustained an injury to his forehead when he was pushed from a vehicle by protesters as he tried to stop them from launching firecrackers in the direction of the Windsor Hotel, Yu Hui-mao, Deputy Director-General of Taichung City's Police Bureau, said at a press conference.
Six protesters were detained after the incident and are still in custody on charges of endangering public safety, disrupting public service and assault, Yu said. The vehicle carrying the protesters was also seized, he added.
The firecrackers set off by the protesters, who were mostly from the pro-independence group "The Taiwan Republic Campaign, " posed a safety hazard for the hotel and the nearby area, Yu said.
An eye witness among the demonstrators told reporters that more than a dozen police officers jumped on the vehicle to go after the protesters and Chen accidentally fell off the truck onto the ground.
"No one pushed him. I have a video recording to prove that, " said a graduate student who asked not to be named.
The police also videotaped the incident but the footage cannot be made public because the case is now under investigation by local prosecutors, Yu said.
"Our video footage shows that Chen was pushed from the vehicle, " he said.
Yu urged the protesters to express their views in a peaceful manner in order to avoid such incidents.