I’ve seen this a few times in China. Typically the incident stemmed from alcohol, racial insults, or women (usually at least 2 out of the 3).
I’ve seen incidents where the foreigners got away with it and where they got screwed, and I’ve seen where the locals got away with it and where they got screwed. There was no overarching pattern that I could discern…it seemed like the result of an inconsistent system acting differently based on different local motivations and fears.
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I don’t know where to start with that one. 
There was a case a few years ago, about human trafficking iirc, in which the Control Yuan reprimanded the Judicial Yuan for violating a foreigner’s rights by not providing proper translation service.
Saw this topic also posted in tripadvisor.
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I’ve never heard of anyone being taken down to the station without them putting in a call to the FA for a translator.
I think we all know that Taiwan is a corrupt country mostly run by gangsters. We all find our way to love it or get out. To the OP; dude, the area you were walking in is really ghetto. This kind of thing could happen any other country if you’re in the ghetto. Especially if you stand out. I’ve been assaulted in Zhongli before by a random drunk guy. That’s also a pretty rough area.
I would have tried these people first:
https://english.police.gov.taipei/cp.aspx?n=CFC5CEAB8AFFEF3C
I personally know 3 foreigners who have been attacked in Taiwan; 2 because of girls, 1 randomly by a club bouncer. Also my old Chinese teacher told me that one of her other students was attacked in a club.
In each of these cases, the police failed to do anything because the culprits were “well connected”. It’s a really shitty aspect of Taiwan, and to be fair regular Taiwanese people hate it too.
As others have mentioned, the way around it is to shame the police in the media. Try taking your story to the Taiwan English press or local USA press, make a real stink. If the police see that Taiwan is being seen in an embarrassing light, they will do something to prevent Taiwan from “losing face” to the rest of the world.
I’ve never known anyone who’s been attacked. Maybe because I’m married and a “domesticated” homebody, I no longer get into situations where that might happen, such as getting bashed by a jealous dude at a club or getting roughed up by a bouncer (though I suspect there’s more to that bouncer story than he just attacked your friend for no reason).
people could be unlucky enough to be attacked for no reason pretty much at anywhere.
True. It’s just when a bouncer does it, it’s usually not random. Maybe he was drunk and the bouncer thought he mouthed off to him.
Drink related incidents probably account for many altercations getting out of control .
I had a similar incident some months ago and though the police were fine, wouldn’t have wanted to wade through the legal system. I inquired through the Legal Aid Foundation and they said that the assailant could countersue with a defamation lawsuit and though it probably wouldn’t succeed (I had cell phone video of it and police recovered security cam footage, both of which backed my story entirely) they said if they other guy’s family had connections or enough money to keep the lawsuit alive, it would be tough, in practice, for a foreigner to come out on top.
I don’t think this necessarily means the system is corrupt but has loopholes you can drive through.
Irrelevant, translation should be facilitated.
This is like trying to say America doesnt have corrupt politions or judges or cops who would gladly take a bribe.
Captain obvious would say there is no country on the planet that wouldn’t do this.
Really hard to believe.
Yeah like that shit hole club Search. Most obvious gangster run club I have ever seen.