A BBC article asks
The Chinese guards protecting the Olympic torch have been described as heavy-handed, aggressive and even thugs. Who are the men in blue tracksuits?
A Times article responds - “The Chinese torch guards are actually paramilitary police from a squad spun off from the army,” and goes on to say that they will not be allowed into Japan for the Nagano leg of the torch’s journey later this month.
The progress of the Olympic torch has been hampered along its way by fierce protests, particularly in London, Paris and San Francisco, but the Men in Blue (tracksuits) first caught the eye in London when the Metropolitan Police made complaints, saying that they had not been informed of the men’s true role, that they had no official purpose and often hindered the police’s attempts to keep order.
Then former Olympic champion long distance runner, Sebastian Coe (now Lord Coe), who leads organising committee for London’s 2012 Olympics, waded into the controversy, branding them “horrible thugs”.
Now, Shinya Izumi, the Chairman of the National Public Safety Commission in Tokyo, has cast doubt on whether they’ll be welcome in Japan.
“I do not personally accept the idea that they will run in Japan as they ran in other countries,” said Shinya Izumi, who was discussing arrangements for the Nagano leg of the torch relay later this month.
Mr Izumi, reflecting the revelation that the blue-tracksuited Chinese runners are in fact paramilitary-trained police, said that any security role they played – including pushing protesters off the road as they have done elsewhere – would be an infringement of Japan’s sovereignty.
The question of sovereignty has been a hot topic of debate in London with many asking who gave permission for the Chinese to police London’s streets if the Metropolitan Police didn’t even know who they were.
Top image © AFP
good post overoften - that’s why I couldn’t do anything near the level of thing’s that David Weber and yourself do.
rem.
I haven’t seen much of this on TV (I rarely watch it), but in Paris, wasn’t it the French police dishing out the punishment on the protesters? How heavy-handed have the “Men in Blue” been? I don’t think these guys need to come to Nagano, but is it such a big deal if they did?
The Daily Mail is saying that this is one more indication that China is the new master of the universe…
The Daily Mail says a lot of things…..
Japan is lucky that it is towards the end of the international relay - it can learn from the mistakes of the previous legs, such as getting rid of the Chinese goons and not having an overly-ambitious route.
Tim Henman ?
it would be a wonderful snub to China if Japan (in the interests of public safety) just cancelled its leg of the relay.
and Raj…”Chinese goons”..well put!.
rem.
I chased the whole cavalcade around along with the rest of the demonstrators in San Francisco but they slinked it off into a bus and back to the airport just as we were finally getting to it. The strangest thing about it was seeing so many people with red communist flags in an American city, kinda surreal. I can’t exactly blame these people for being proud of their country hosting but on the Tibet and Uighur issue all of the ones I talked with were unabashedly against any sort of self determination there. I don’t think the track-suit thugs had much to do since all the route changes pretty much prevented anybody from getting close anyway.
Raj, you better start preparing that apology.
http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSPEK25098920080415
rem