China removed Dogs from the menu - Olympic
Dog is off the menu, model planes are grounded and post-office patrons must show identification before mailing a letter. Welcome to Beijing three weeks before the Olympics.
China's game-ready capital went live yesterday, with double the security screenings at airports, new traffic rules and a ban on ``flying objects'' as the government seeks to ensure that nothing -- from gridlock to a terrorist attack -- spoils the country's coming-out party.
Beijing's investment in security may be 50 percent more than Athens spent in 2004. In addition to the traditional safety risks any Olympic host faces, China is also preparing for potential domestic dissent and political protests. The city has readied an anti-terror force of 100,000, as well as 150,000 security guards and 290,000 volunteers to help keep order, according to the official Xinhua News Agency.
``It is not just management or control of demonstrators, as in other countries,'' Dane Chamorro, regional general manager for North Asia at consulting firm Control Risks, said in an interview from Shanghai. China's goal is preventing ``any such public display, which is a different and more resource- intensive undertaking.''
Riots by as many as 30,000 people in southwestern China three weeks ago, a knife attack at a Shanghai police station that killed six officers on July 1 and arrests of 82 alleged terrorists in the western Xinjiang region reinforce the potential threat.
Athletes Killed
The importance of protection during the Olympics increased after 11 Israeli athletes were killed during the 1972 games in Munich, Germany, by a Palestinian terrorist group. The need was emphasized again in 1996, after a bomb killed one person and injured 111 in Atlanta, Georgia.
``A security operation for an Olympics games is a huge undertaking,'' said David Gray, an adviser at Intelligent Risks Pty Ltd. in Sydney, a consulting company that has been involved in planning at least five games, including Beijing. ``It would be surprising and alarming if they hadn't applied very substantial resources.''
Guards in uniforms -- green for military, blue for police -- line the ancient bridges between the Gate of Heavenly Peace and Tiananmen Square, the site of anti-government demonstrations in 1989. More guards search bags before visitors are allowed into the square itself.
Bag and Body Checks
The Beijing airport yesterday began checking travelers' bags and bodies for explosives before they enter the terminals, with another screening after check-in once they're inside. Subway stations have been equipped with airport-style scanners, and uniformed workers wield metal-detector batons for random searches.
Vehicles coming to Beijing must pass through what the Beijing Public Security Bureau calls ``three defense lines'' -- a gauntlet of stops in neighboring provinces on roads heading for the capital, on major roads from Beijing's suburbs into the central city and finally on streets downtown. Anyone without proper identification and license -- or any vehicle or person deemed suspicious -- may be detained or turned back. Even people who want to mail letters and packages at post offices must show official identification.
The Chinese army has set up missile launchers around the main Olympic facilities to fend of air attacks and will enforce a no-fly zone over the city. The public-security bureau has instituted its own no-fly order, banning model airplanes and hot-air balloons around universities and schools because of what it says are general safety reasons.