A man suspected of being mentally disturbed set fire to the first floor of the DPP's headquarters yesterday while President Chen Shui-bian (
The fire caused minor damage and no one was injured.
Witnesses said the man -- later identified as 39-year-old Lin Wen-chuang (
PHOTO: SEAN CHAO, TAIPEI TIMES
Julia Chen (
She said the man then swore, poured gasoline on the store's counter and set fire to it. Flames from the fire, which witnesses said reached around 2m in height, burned a model airplane on the counter before staff put it out.
Witnesses said the man went outside the shop, saying he would wait for the media to arrive.
As the police took him away, he told reporters that the president owed him money.
Lin later told the police that he came from Taitung yesterday morning to appeal to Chen for NT$2 million that he said the DPP's Taitung office owed him.
Lin's family said he suffered from a mental disorder, but police said they had not confirmed this.
Police said they would detain Lin for endangering public safety.
The DPP was quick to condemn the attack.
DPP Deputy Secretary-General Lee Chin-yung (
It was the first time the DPP's headquarters have been attacked in such a way, although on Jan. 6, party staff caught a burglar there.
The DPP tightened security at its headquarters after the president assumed the party's chairmanship last July because Chen has to attend Central Standing Committee meetings there every Tuesday.
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