Law enforcement officers yesterday said that domestic public order remained normal after the US began its military strikes against Iraq, although they encouraged foreigners to contact local police stations immediately if they feel their safety is endangered.
"If you feel that you have become a target for unknown attackers, feel free to come to us. We will provide necessary protection," said Chung Hung-ta (
Chung said that if requested, the police would assign an officer to provide "bodyguard-style," round-the-clock protection to those people who feel they might be threatened.
People who feel concerned about their safety would have to file an application for such protection.
Applicants could be Taiwanese as well as foreigners, including, Chung said, people from the Middle East. Chung said that people from the Middle East may be particularly need in of protection because there is a tendency for people to misunderstand their intentions.
"For many people, the first word that flashes through their mind when they meet a person from that area would be `terrorist.' The safety of many innocent people has been endangered because of this kind of misunderstanding," he said.
According to Taipei City Police Department's Criminal Investigation Corps Chief Frank Chiu (
If the application for protection is approved, the applicant will be protected by an officer 24 hours a day for one month. When the month is up, the applicant can file another request and the same procedures will be repeated.
"We will assign more than one officer at a time if necessary," Chiu said.
"Whether to continue to protect the same person or how many officers we will assign at a time depends on the case and the situa-tion," he said.
The government has also ordered the police to tighten security at CKS International Airport.
Additional security checks on passengers of US-bound flights and US-run airlines commenced yesterday.
In the meantime, both the National Security Bureau and the Ministry of Justice's Investigation Bureau said that they have established special teams to monitor the US military action against Iraq and will have no problem maintaining domestic public order.
Both bureaus also said that their secret agents are continuously "monitoring foreigners we suspect of involvement in terrorism" and will arrest such people if evidence shows that their activities are related to terrorism.
Investigation Bureau Director-General Yeh Sheng-mao (
"Everything is under control. We want to avoid all possibility of terrorist attacks in Taiwan," Yeh said.
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