Security tightened for Ma after air gun scare

“Security protection for the president has been enhanced following the incident,” said an official.

A 19-year-old man was fined NT$3,000 (US$90) for disrupting social order after he was found taking an air gun to a rally where Ma was present in southern Taiwan.

The man claimed he had no political affiliation and that he accidentally brought the toy gun with him.

The incident has put the presidential security team on heightened alert as Ma is now touring the island to canvass support for his Kuomintang party in the run-up to regional elections next month.

Local reports said more than 200 police were on duty for Ma at a campaign event on Thursday while his bodyguards formed a “human shield” by tightly surrounding him when he was greeting voters from an open-top vehicle.

Ma's predecessor Chen Shui-bian was lightly injured in an election-eve shooting in 2004 but his opponents alleged that the incident was staged to help him win re-election.

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