|
Ensuring security for the Games
By Yu Nan (chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2007-05-17 09:30
Each Olympic venue should have a security manager and records need to be kept of all the Games participants, an officer said yesterday.
All Beijing Olympic Games stadiums will adopt a "post-responsibility" system, with appointed security managers and personnel both before and during the Games, said Zhang Shuyuan, security chief with the Beijing Organizing Committee for the Games of the XXIX Olympiad (BOCOG) security department.
Paramilitary policemen take part in a drill preparing for football hooligans ahead of the Beijing 2008 Olympics at an army base in Beijing May 16, 2007.[Reuters] |
In addition, the personal backgrounds of those participating in the Games, including athletes, judges, coaches and officials will be subject to background checks for the sake of security requirements.
"This step is vital to a goal of holding safe Games", he stressed, and said "No one is an exception to the rule, not even high-ranking officials. Everyone will have a security check."
Zhang added his department did not need to publicize the results of the checks either.
Security teams are already stationed on the sites of 13 stadiums and six other Olympic buildings, and doing trouble-shooting, which marks the start of security preparations in the run-up to the 2008 Olympiad.
But Zhang admits that there still have some threats that will need to be dealt with.
He highlights the Olympic torch relay as a possible security risk. "Anything may happen to us, both in the domestic and overseas routes where some terrorist attacks could take place."
While he says the general security situation is approving," Existing hostile forces against China will try to damage our country's international image through the Olympic Games."
More trial events this year will provide opportunities to thoroughly examine the Olympic security system, with more International Olympic Committee (IOC) security advisers overseeing China's security team.
Beijing will host more than 26 sports test events in the second half of this year along with mock security operations. Emergency plans have also been drawn up to ensure all events go on without a hitch during the Olympics.
|
