A local councilor in Taiwan was indicted on Thursday for rallying mob to attack a visiting mainland scholar, a prosecutor said Thursday.

Wang Ting-yu, a Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) councilor of Tainan city in southern Taiwan, would face a 14-month jail term if such charges as assault and being a "principal plotter" of inciting mobs are proven.

The visiting scholar Zhang Mingqing, dean of journalism at Xiamen University in the mainland's southeastern province of Fujian, was shoved to the ground during a tour of a Confucius temple in the south of Taiwan on Oct. 21.

When Zhang was in his car leaving the temple, a rioter jumped onto the vehicle's roof. Others beat the car with flag poles.

Zhang, also deputy chief of the mainland-based Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait (ARATS), was visiting the island at the invitation of the Taiwan National University of the Arts.

The other six suspects involved in the assault would also face jail terms of six to eight months if convicted.

The local prosecutor indicted Wang and the others for "causing social turbulence" and for "pushing over democratic values and trampling human rights and the rule of law", which hinders democratic progress, according to Taiwan media.

It said Wang targeted Zhang's title as ARATS deputy chief more than Zhang himself so the action had already caused social unrest. "Other mainland people coming to the island in the future would worry about safety," it said.

In a letter to Taiwan's Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF), the ARATS expressed "strong indignation" over the incident, which forced Zhang to leave the island ahead of schedule.

Media across the Taiwan Strait also condemned the use of violence by DPP members and its followers.

The incident came just ahead of a planned visit by the mainland's chief negotiator on Taiwan affairs Chen Yunlin, who was to lead a 60-member delegation for economic talks in Taipei from Nov. 3 to 7.

Chen would discuss with the SEF on cross-Strait direct shipping, air transport, postal services, food safety and tourism cooperation, and exchange views on financial cooperation to withstand the international financial crisis.

(Xinhua News Agency October 30, 2008)