Wang prays for a smooth Double Ten National Day

Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) yesterday visited three temples to pray that tomorrow's Double Ten National Day celebrations will proceed smoothly.

"The national day of the Republic of China is the birthday of the country and the public. It has been held smoothly every year in the past," Wang said. "This year, as there will be a demonstration, I am praying that the celebrations would go well."

He told reporters at Taipei's Xingtian Temple (行天宮) that he had prayed that the gods would bless the Taiwanese people and that the whole country would join celebrations.

Although the anti-President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) campaign has said that about 2 million people would join its protest around the Presidential Office building tomorrow, Wang insisted that the celebrations in front of the Presidential Office would be held according to schedule.

The legislative speaker is in charge of the Double Ten National Day organizing committee.

"About 4,300 students who were invited to attend the celebrations politely refused the invitation because of security concerns, including those from National Taiwan Normal University, National Taiwan University, and National Chengchi University," Wang said.

"The schools had only recently informed the organizing committee of the rejections," Wang said. "We then invited another 2,000 students to attend the celebrations. Whether they will come or not, we will respect their decisions."

He said that more than 55 percent of the people surveyed recently about the Double Ten National Day celebrations said that they wanted the celebrations to he held as usual, while only 20 percent of respondents suggested canceling the events.