Protests, violence mar national day

He added that the pan-blue legislators' protest during the ceremony was "outrageous" and that they had "crossed the line."

He also complained that people from Shih's campaign had chased him and thrown things at his car as he and other DPP legislators were arriving for the ceremony.

"Taipei has really become a violent city. It is very ironic to call Shih's campaign a movement of `love and peace,'" he said.

DPP Legislator Wang Shih-cheng (王世堅) said he and other DPP legislators were trying to restrain pan-blue legislators from staging protests during Chen's speech.

Yesterday morning, police focused on not allowing protesters to enter the Double Ten National Day celebration site, but did not remove protesters parading from several directions as they "besieged" the Presidential Office.

Some minor conflicts involving protesters occurred but ended soon after police intervened.

At 8am, more than 100 protesters attempted to block a military police motorcycle team from entering the site, but police quickly stopped them.

Fifteen Taipei prosecutors were deployed around the protests to monitor events.

The lead prosecutor of the Taipei District Prosecutors' Office, Huang Ho-tsun (黃和村), said that his office would immediately prosecute anyone who break the law.

Reporters: Mo Yan-chih, Ko Shu-ling, Jimmy Chuang, Shih Hsiu-chuan, Flora Wang and Rich Chang

also see stories:

Editorial: A day of national embarrassment

Pundits expect TAIEX to consolidate