Guess the Chinese are hell-bent on showing the world a thing or two about crowd control:
China’s blue-clad flame attendants, whose aggressive methods of safeguarding the Olympic torch have provoked international outcry, are paramilitary police from a force spun off from the country’s army.
The squad of 30 young men from the police academy that turns out the cream of the paramilitary security force has the job at home of ensuring riot control, domestic stability and the protection of diplomats.
[…]
The guards’ task for the torch relay is to ensure the flame is never extinguished – although it was put out three times in Paris – and now increasingly to prevent protesters demonstrating against Chinese rule in Tibet from interfering with it.
But the aggression with which the guards have been pursuing their brief has provoked anger, not least in London where they were seen wrestling protesters to the ground and were described as “thugs” by Lord Coe.
The Olympic medalist and organiser of the 2012 Games was overheard saying that the officials had pushed him around as the torch made its way through the capital on Sunday. He added that other countries on the route should “get rid of those guys”.
“They tried to punch me out of the way three times. They are horrible … I think they were thugs.” [emphasis added]
Not seeing much criticism coming from the International Olympic Committee about the Chinese goon squad. What we DO get is this, though:
"I’m definitely concerned about what has happened in London and in Paris," Jacques Rogge said. "I’m deeply saddened by the fact that such an important symbol has been attacked. We recognize the right for people to protest and express their views but it should be nonviolent. We are very sad for all the athletes and the people who expected so much from the run and have been spoiled of their joy."
Sorry to rain on your parade, Jacques. I’d feel sorrier for you and your pals if you’d pressed the Chinese harder on free speech. As it was, I saw an official from the committee on CNN International a few weeks ago telling viewers that he was engaged in silent diplomacy with Beijing with regards to human rights. [UPDATE: It might even have been Rogge himself on CNN; today’s Taipei Times says, "Rogge has refrained from criticizing China, saying he prefers to engage in ‘silent diplomacy’ with the Chinese."]
OK, so maybe English isn’t his first language, but c’mon. SILENT diplomacy kind of makes it sound like you’re . . . Not. Saying. ANYTHING.
(As for the Chinese government, hey, this is what happens when you outlaw all expression of dissent in your country. Those who make peaceful protest impossible make violent protest inevitable, to spin the old phrase. And let’s keep this thing in perspective — the violence of which Rogge speaks are a few attempted cases of TORCH-SNATCHING.)
More from another IOC muckety-muck:
Other senior IOC officials who are in Beijing to prepare for the August Games spoke bitterly of the demonstrations that have marred China’s efforts to stage the most ambitious torch relay ever.
“All I can say is we are desperately disappointed,” IOC board member Kevan Gosper said.
“[Activists] just take their hate out on whatever the issues are at the time,” Gosper said.
Kevan Gosper . . . Now where have I heard THAT name before . . . Could it be the same Kevan Gosper who condescendingly slammed Taiwan last year for refusing Beijing’s Olympic torch route offer? Let’s set the dials on the Way-Back Machine to April 28th of the year 2007:
"Given the special position we’ve delivered to Taiwan’s national Olympic committee, to sustain their position in the Olympic movement alongside China, I think it behooves Taiwan to accommodate matters Olympic and particularly something as important as the torch relay," Mr Gosper said.
"They should go beyond how they feel about their regional position, recognise they have a special place in the Olympic movement and be gracious about being included in the relay."
Yep, that would be him. Well Mr. Gosper, in retrospect it looks as though Taiwan did your organization a BIG favor and spared it a heap-load of embarrassment. And as for your suggestion that Taiwan ought to just suck it up and take it like a man, well, you might want to consider following a little of that advice yourself!
(Meanwhile, Andrew Stuttaford at the National Review impishly proposes that if the IOC doesn’t like Olympic torch protests, they could always make Pyongyang the Games’ permanent home. ‘Cause for a hitch-free relay, Kim Jong-il’s your man.)
POSTSCRIPT: Looks like the Tibetan Freedom Torch run is progressing a little more smoothly:
. . . the only flame Tibetans carried Tuesday was the Tibetan Freedom Torch, which is passing through 50 cities from March 10 to August 8 — reaching Tibet on the day the Beijing Olympics begin, which should provoke an unseemly and badly timed response from China.
As protesters ranging from monks to Irishmen marched with the Tibetan torch — which, I might add, no one was chasing with a fire extinguisher — motorists going the opposite way on Van Ness Avenue stopped in lanes to take pictures, honked and flashed peace signs or, in the case of one Chinese woman I walked past, gave demonstrators the evil eye.
On a related note, John Derbyshire takes on the argument that the Chinese were liberators of Tibet.