Met officer defends torch relay 'thugs'
Alan Travis,
home affairs editor
guardian.co.uk,
Tuesday May 6 2008
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/may/06/torch.relay
Chinese guards during the Olympic torch protests in London.
Photograph: Ian Walton/AP
The senior Metropolitan police commander in charge of the Olympic
torch procession through London today defended the behaviour of the
Chinese security guards who were branded "thugs" by Lord Coe, the
British Olympic chief.
Commander Robert Broadhurst told MPs there were "several intimates"
from the Chinese that the London leg of the Olympic torch relay would
have been switched to another capital city if Britain had banned the
"torch attendants".
He admitted London police had not anticipated the torch coming under
attack from the moment it left Wembley stadium until fini****ng its
journey 31 miles later in Greenwich.
"It was a rolling melee for 31 miles... It was undignified... Officers
were attacked, bottles and cans were thrown at us along a large part
of the route... To be attacked for 31 miles was quite a lot of
pressure on those people," Broadhurst told the Commons home affairs
committee. He said 2,060 police were involved in protecting the torch
at a total cost of £746,000.
Faced with allegations that the Chinese security guards pushed, shoved
and punched protesters, Broadhurst said it was "a natural reaction" by
people who thought their "hugely significant" torch was in peril, and
who were in danger of losing face publicly.
Broadhurst, cross-examined by the committee, said: "We did not
anticipate that those out to attack the torch would start at Wembley
and not finish until 31 miles away at Greenwich. The sheer exuberance
and energy of the protesters from start to finish was not
anticipated," he said. Lining the entire route with barriers or
officers would have brought London to a halt all day, he said.
Officially described as volunteers by the Beijing organisers, the 12
bodyguards were recruited from specialist units of the People's Armed
Police in China and have been detailed to protect the flame on its
world tour before the games open on August 8.
Broadhurst said the police had negotiated with the Chinese through the
Greater London authority, and early in the proceedings the Chinese had
"tried to stamp their authority". But the Met had reminded them in "no
uncertain terms" who was in charge of the operation.
He denied the behaviour of the security guards was unacceptable,
saying they were there to protect their property — the torch — and
reasonable force had been necessary on occasions.
Broadhurst said there had been disorder and behaviour that the Met
would not condone, but it involved British police as well as the
Chinese.
He said six complaints were received, three of which had been
resolved. There had been no formal complaint from Coe, who said he had
been pushed and shoved by the Chinese guards.
Broadhurst suggested that the question of the torch relay would have
to be looked at again for the 2012 London Olympics. He confirmed a
decision has yet to be taken on whether the torch will return to
London this year to mark the Paralympics.
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This will be the last Olympics Torch Relay. There won't be any at the
2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver. There won't be any for the 2012
Olympics in London. The cost of security is too high for the little
benefit the Torch Relay provides. In fact all the Relay will provide
is a wide open avenue for each and every kind of protest that has
nothing to do with the Olympics. For Canada it will be native rights
and of course protests against the participation of countries loony
leftists consider unworthy. In London there will be Islamic protests
complete with roadside bombs. London will be crazy to want to risk
that.
This will also be the last Olympics extravaganza. No one is going to
spend the kind of money and manpower Beijing had allocated to the
Beijing Games. The London Games is already a few tens of millions in
the hole. Beyond 2012 no G8 country will bid for the Games on account
of security problems and costs. That is their price for sup****ting
the US war in Iraq and Afghanistan. 1.3 billion Muslims are out to get
them. Japan and Australia cannot bid, Japan being an Asian country
next to China and therefore out of rotation. Australia just held one
in 2000. It looks like Latin America or Russia have the best chance
for the 2016 Games.
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