An incident in which a person allegedly brought a toy gun to a campaign event attended by President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) in Taoyuan on Thursday is being investigated, the Ministry of Justice said yesterday.
Tsai, who is the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) chairperson, attended the event to support DPP Taoyuan mayoral candidate Cheng Yun-peng (鄭運鵬).
The Taoyuan Police Department’s Dayuan (大園) Precinct found and seized the toy gun near the event site, and is investigating the person who allegedly brought it there.
Photo courtesy of the Taoyuan Police Department’s Dayuan Precinct
The president had not arrived when police seized the toy gun, the Presidential Office said, adding that police informed security personnel at the event about the incident.
During a legislative interpellation session yesterday, Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) said that “the security detail of the president should be of the highest standard.”
Minister of Justice Tsai Ching-hsiang (蔡清祥) said that police and security officials are looking into the incident, adding that prosecutors would get involved if it is found to be a criminal case.
Asked whether the incident was a warning sign of insufficient public security, Tsai Ching-hsiang said it would be handled according to the law.
Separately, 58 gunshots were on Thursday fired at a company in Tainan’s Syuejia District (學甲), followed by 30 gunshots at the office of Tainan City Councillor Hsieh Tsai-wang (謝財旺), which is also the campaign headquarters of his daughter, Hsieh Shu-fan (謝舒凡), who is running for Tainan city councilor in the Nov. 26 elections.
Tsai Ching-hsiang said the Tainan District Prosecutors’ Office and police are looking into the incidents.
The ministry would continue to pay close attention to public security ahead of the elections to ensure safe voting and a safe society, he said.
Tsai Ching-hsiang was also asked about a document that was posted on Facebook claiming that the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) had asked paparazzi to follow DPP Taipei mayoral candidate Chen Shih-chung (陳時中).
The document contained the presumably forged signatures of KMT Taipei mayoral candidate Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) and KMT Taipei City Councilor Hsu Chiao-hsin (徐巧芯), who reported the case to police.
The page on which it was posted later apologized and stopped posting, saying that closing the page was “requested by Chen’s campaign office.”
Su said the person who posted the document “should take responsibility.”
Additional reporting by Wu Su-wei
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