Knife-wielding man subdued after taking over microphone at Taipei march

持刀男子在台北遊行中搶奪麥克風後被制服

Man climbs up mayoral candidate Chen Shih-chung’s campaign vehicle with box cutter


TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Shortly before a march organized by Taipei mayoral candidate Chen Shih-chung (陳時中) took off on Sunday afternoon (Nov. 20), a man was taken into police custody after a short struggle with police for the box cutter he wielded.

According to Liberty Times, the man was 39 years old and surnamed Liu (劉). At around 1 p.m., he rushed onto an empty campaign vehicle and picked up the microphone, saying he wanted to “voice a demand.”

However, prior to this, the police had noticed his strange behavior and were able to quickly subdue him by spraying him with pepper spray. After removing Liu from the scene, the police were cited as saying Liu was agitated and in an unstable mental state.

SETNews reported that during his struggle with the police, Liu had attempted to harm himself with the box cutter he had brought, though ultimately no one was injured. Liu told the police that his actions had nothing to do with Chen and he simply chose to go to a random candidate’s event because he “had the ability to resolve the U.S.-China trade conflict.”

He added that he got onto the campaign vehicle because no one would listen to him. He claimed to have no intention of harming anyone.

Though Liu did not injure anyone during the incident, he faces legal liability for “carrying harmful instruments, chemical compounds, or other hazardous items without justifiable reasons”, according to the Social Order Maintenance Act.

The “Care for Taipei, Walk for Love” march organized by Chen Shih-chung’s campaign attracted a large crowd well before its scheduled start time at 2 p.m., per UDN. At 1 p.m., supporters had blocked up the intersection of Beiping East Road and Shaoxing North Street, where the Democratic Progressive Party headquarter is located.