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Legislative elections and referendums: Assailant throws chunk of glass at vice president

Vice President Annette Lu waves to supporters as she stumps for Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislative candidate William Lai, second right, in Tainan City yesterday. An unidentified person threw what appeared to be a chunk of glass at the car from a nearby building. Lu was unhurt. PHOTO: CNA

An unknown assailant threw a chunk of glass at Vice President Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) while she was campaigning yesterday ahead of tomorrow's legislative elections and referendum, but she escaped unharmed.

Lu, who was riding in a jeep with a partial bulletproof shield, said she did not know at first what had happened, local news cables reported, adding that police were investigating the incident in Tainan City.

The chunk of glass was apparently thrown from the window of a high-rise building, the reports said, showing footage of a smashed bottle on the street near Lu's jeep.

Police in Tainan declined to comment.

Lu was slightly injured in the same city in 2004 in a shooting on the eve of the presidential polls. Bullets grazed President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) in the stomach and hit Lu in her knee when the pair was standing side by side in the back of an open-top off-road jeep.

Interior Minister Lee Yi-yang (李逸洋) on Wednesday ordered a tightening of security ahead of tomorrow's legislative elections, with thousands of extra police to be deployed and bodyguards assigned to more than 100 candidates.

In related news, Premier Chang Chun-hsiung (張俊雄) yesterday said that an emergency response task force has been set up to oversee law and order before and during tomorrow's elections and referendums.

Led by Vice Premier Chiou I-jen (邱義仁), the task force will closely monitor public order in polling stations around the country and respond to media inquiries regarding news related to the election.

The task force started its operations yesterday and will close after the vote-counting has been completed.

Meanwhile, National Police Agency Director-General Hou You-yi (侯友宜) told a separate press conference yesterday that a total of 62,419 police officers are ready for assignments on election day.

"Our end goal is to make sure the every single ballot will be cast without any turbulence," Hou said.

He said the police officers and volunteer security personnel would be distributed to a total of 14,377 ballot stations nationwide tomorrow.

Hou also introduced a new online system through which field officers will be able to videotape or audiotape everything with their mobile phones, media players, cameras or other electronic devices and then upload them via the Internet to headquarters.

That way, supervisors back in the office would be able to learn the latest situation at locations where potential trouble might occur, he said.

ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY JIMMY CHUANG AND SHIH HSIU-CHUAN
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