When President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) and Vice President Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) were sworn in yesterday it was without the benefit of bulletproof glass -- but other aspects of the inauguration's security arrangements struck some as needlessly inconvenient, especially in view of the poor weather.
According to police estimates, about 52,000 people participated in the outdoor ceremony. Most of them got soaked because umbrellas were not allowed. Yet other measures to protect the presidential entourage were deemed unnecessary.
The National Security Bureau had planned to protect Chen during his speech with a large plate of bulletproof glass. In the end the glass was not installed because the Presidential Office feared that the glass would fog up in the bad weather and make it difficult for photographers to do their jobs.
Chen and Lu both wore bulletproof vests, which cost about NT$150,000 each.
Other security features for yesterday's event included a "high-frequency interrupting transmitter" that was operated by the bureau in case of attack by remote-control aircraft.
According to the bureau, if a remote-control plane had been detected, officials would have used the transmitter to interrupt the frequency on which the aircraft operated so that it would not have been able to continue flying.
Meanwhile, 1,687 students from eight schools were not able to attend school and hundreds of students' lunches went to waste as a result of security measures.
According to Wu Ching-chi (吳清基), director of the Taipei City Government's Bureau of Education, excessive security measures caused parents of students at Taipei Municipal First Girls' Senior High School and Hung Tao Junior High School -- whose campuses are located next to the Presidential Office -- to flood the Bureau of Education's phone lines with complaints during the inauguration.
According to a plan that had been put in place by the Taipei City Government, students in uniform who were carrying identification cards were to be allowed to enter the restricted area around the Presidential Office. In the event, law enforcement officials carried out a different set of procedures.
"Parents told me that law enforcement officers searched everybody, confiscated students' umbrellas and asked them to open their lunchboxes," Wu said.
"The students got wet and their lunchboxes got flooded by rainwater. Who will take responsibility if they get sick because of this? This is ridiculous. This is outrageous," Wu said.
"Security is very important. But law enforcement officers should not treat students like this. Students are not criminals or suspects, okay?" Wu said.
City police said that the students' treatment was not their fault -- but rather the fault of military police.
"City police were responsible for controlling vehicles that were traveling in the restricted area," said Wang Cho-chiun (
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