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Protester used Falun Gong press credential(New York Daily News (KRT) Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge) WASHINGTON _ Protester Wenyi Wang got within shouting distance _ about 35 yards _ of President Bush and the Chinese leader with the help of a press credential issued by a Falun Gong publication. Wang went through the standard Secret Service background check, showing she had no record of violent crime and had never made threats against the president, officials said. Wang also passed through metal detectors when she entered the White House grounds and was carrying no weapons at that time as well as after she was arrested, said Secret Service spokesman James Mackin. "She went through all the appropriate security checkpoints," Mackin said. The Secret Service response to Wang's shouts at Chinese President Hu Jintao appeared to be slow, but because Wang was standing in a press area, authorities initially thought she was asking a question out of turn, a source explained. Also, Secret Service tactics first and foremost call for protecting the president and ensuring an incident like Wang's outburst is not a diversion for a real threat against the president. Wang has a history of political protesting, penetrating security to get in the face of Chinese President Jiang Zemin in 2001 in Malta. But that was a peaceful conversation that Maltese authorities deemed wasn't a breach of security, according to media reports. There is no Secret Service watch list for individuals with a history of political protests because it's unconstitutional to monitor people's personal ideologies. The Secret Service does not believe Bush or Hu were ever in danger Thursday. The most serious breach of security occurred in the Republic of Georgia last year when a man got close enough to the stage where Bush was speaking to lob a grenade toward him. The grenade fell short and failed to explode. ___ (c) 2006, New York Daily News. Visit the Daily News online at http://www.nydailynews.com/ Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Information Services. For information on republishing this content, contact us at (800) 661-2511 (U.S.), (213) 237-4914 (worldwide), fax (213) 237-6515, or e-mail [email protected]. |