Chinese crowds delay torch relay
Tania Branigan in Beijing
The Guardian,
Saturday May 10 2008
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/may/10/olympicgames2008.china
China's Olympic torch relay has been facing a new threat since its
return to domestic soil - excess enthusiasm from spectators anxious to
glimpse the flame.
Thousands of onlookers broke through a police line in Shenzhen and
poured into the route of the torch, briefly delaying its journey, an
official involved in the relay told Reuters.
Millions of people re****tedly took to the streets to witness its
passage and 15,000 police officers - four-fifths of the city's total
force - oversaw events.
Witnesses have also re****ted that the path of the flame had to be
changed in Guangzhou due to the sheer size of the crowds, and said
that the torch was extinguished accidentally as security forces
struggled to hold them back.
The national flags, cheering and general jubilation greeting the flame
this week are in stark contrast to the protests and disruption which
dogged the flame's international journey, sparking a nationalist
backlash in China.
Security remains tight, with paramilitaries and police jogging
alongside the torch. Only state media are allowed in the convoy which
follows it and the few thousand people invited to the opening and
closing ceremonies in each place have to pass through security
checkpoints with metal detectors.
But the greatest risk to security appears to be the desperation of
people to glimpse its passage. "The crowd was so enthusiastic, things
got too crowded," the Shenzhen official, who declined to be named,
told Reuters. He said similar disruption had occurred in Guangzhou.
The torch is travelling through every Chinese province and major city
on its way to the Olympics opening ceremony in Beijing on August 8.
The state media re****ted yesterday that couples are even requesting
that photographers take their wedding pictures along the route.
But its passage through Tibet - and the ascent of Everest with a
separate flame there on Thursday - have been criticised by Tibetan
sup****t groups overseas, who say that China is making a political
statement about its control of the region.
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