TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) -- Taiwan's former president entered court Monday to defend himself in a libel case, but first had to pass angry opponents shouting at him outside the courthouse and a man who reportedly kicked him in the rear end.

Chen Shui-bian entered the Taipei District Court building as police barred dozens of supporters and opponents from getting close to him. But CTI Cable News reported that an elderly man managed to kick the ex-president before two policemen took him away.
Chen stepped down in May after his party lost the presidential election to the Nationalist Party's Ma Ying-jeou.
The libel suit was filed by retired Nationalist admiral Lei Hsueh-ming, who is demanding $66 million in compensation.
Chen told reporters in 2005 that the ex-admiral and several other officials together took $20 million in bribes in a $2.7 billion deal to buy six French-made frigates.
The deal turned into a scandal in 1993 following the death of a Taiwanese navy captain who was widely believed to have been killed because he was about to blow the whistle on colleagues for allegedly taking kickbacks.
After taking office in 2000, Chen pledged to seek out the officials who were believed to have taken corrupt payments in the frigate sale. The admiral was investigated but acquitted for lack of evidence.
Lai Ching-teh, a lawmaker from the opposition Democratic Progressive Party, said he believed Chen had obtained evidence before making the allegation against Lei.
In his last years in office, Chen and his inner circle were also embroiled in various corruption scandals.
Taiwan's prosecutors launched a corruption probe against Chen immediately after he left office.
Chen's wife was indicted in December 2006 on charges of embezzling $484,000 from a special presidential fund. At the time prosecutors said Chen could be indicted on the same charges after he left the office.