Important Factoid found in Asia News source that people foolishing planning on attending the Olympics should be aware of-Meanwhile, to add to the drama, the Chinese authorities said today they have uncovered a plot to kidnap athletes and foreign journalists during the Games. The Ministry of Public Security said 35 people have been arrested. It claimed that the banned Uygher organization the East Turkestan Islamic Movement was behind the alleged plot.
Olympic Torch Jakarta
Guide Note: The Olympic Torch Relay is scheduled to pass through Jakarta on April 22, 2008. The event was originally planned to follow a 10 mile course through the center of the city, but the route has been shortened following security concerns and pressure from China. There have been anti-Chinese riots in Jakarta as recently as 1998. Officials are also concerned that the event may attract Tibetan Independence activists, whose Protests created a major impediment to the progress of the relay in Paris and San Francisco. Notice here, that is it CHINA that has shortened the torch route...that is a matter of GREAT SHAME for the Chinese people, proof that they cannot protect the flame from a few hundred protesters, let along protect China from the world. So much for their supposed military might.
Fast Facts:
- Scheduled for April 22, 2008
- Originally planned to follow a 10 mile course
- Route will now follow a path in and around the city's main stadium
- Shortened over security concerns
- Ant-Chinese riots broke out in Jakarta in 1998
- Also try: Olympic Torch Relay Olympic Torch Protest
Olympic Torch Jakarta News
- Google News: Olympic Torch Jakarta
- Antara News (Indonesia): Asian Governments Brace for Firebrand Olympic Torch Relay (April 17, 2008)
- "Indonesia, a country which has a recent history of anti-Chinese riots (the latest of which trashed Jakarta's Chinatown in 1998), has agreed to significantly shorten its leg of the Olympic torch run following a request by Beijing over security concerns."
- Agence France-Presse: Olympic Torch Heads to Asia, Bringing Security Headache (April 15, 2008)
- Xinhua News: Olympic Torch Relay Cannot Be Used for Political Propaganda (April 11, 2008)
- "Indonesian National Sport Committee chairperson Rita Subowo said on Friday that the international Olympic Torch Relay cannot be used for disseminating political propaganda, as it was against the Olympic Charter."
- The Jakarta Post: Indonesia to Shorten Olympic Torch Route After Chinese Pressure (April 10, 2008)
- Xinhua News: Over 1,500 Policemen to Oversee Olympic Torch Relay in Indonesia (April 9 2008)
Australians urging protesters not to target Olympic torch relay
The Associated Press , Canberra Tue, 03/25/2008 6:05 PM Sports The Australian government is pissing in the wind. Canberra could be the straw that breaks the camel's back as Pro-Tibetan protesters clash with the Nationalistic Pride of the Ex Pat community in Australia...I always say, if you love China so much, buy yourself a airplane ticket and head back to your oppressive Motherland.
Australia's senior Olympic official is urging political demonstrators not to target the Beijing Games amid global moves to bolster scurity for the torch relay following protests in Ancient Olympia.
A protester evaded tight security, ran behind Beijing Olympic chief Liu Qi, and held up a black banner showing the Olympic rings as handcuffs at the traditional lighting of the flame in Greece on Monday.
In other statements against China's human rights policies and crackdown in Tibet, three men advocating press freedom evaded massive security and ran onto the field at the ceremony in Ancient Olympia before they were seized by police.
And a Tibetan woman covered in fake blood briefly blocked the path of the torch relay.
"I think the Olympic Games are a cause and an agent for good, not a panacea for ills," former International Olympic Committee vice president Kevan Gosper, vice chairman of the IOC's Coordination Commission for the Beijing Games, said.
Protests are expected to coincide with the torch's arrival in the Australian capital on April 24.
"We will use the focus on Canberra and the torch to highlight the current situation in Tibet and to call for the torch not to go ... through Tibet and up Mount Everest," Australia Tibet Council executive officer Paul Bourke told the Australian Associated Press.
Bourke said protesters would travel from Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane for the protest action.
"Tibet is virtually under a state of undeclared martial law and we don't believe it's appropriate to be taking the torch through Tibet at that time."
The Australian Capital Territory's chief minister John Stanhope is proposing high security when the flame is in Canberra during its 130-day journey to the Aug. 8 opening ceremonies in Beijing.
