Missiles, 100,000 police on China's Olympic team

Cthippo · 18 Jul 2008

USA Today said:

BEIJING — China is mobilizing an anti-terrorism force of 100,000 to protect next month's Olympic Games that includes SWAT teams on Segways and officers who can shoot nets like Spider-Man at suspects.

An additional 500,000 volunteers will be on neighborhood street corners to watch for suspicious people. And there's a reward up to $73,000 for anyone who tips police to a major terrorist threat.

Vice President Xi Jinping told a "mobilization" rally held off Tiananmen Square last week that "a safe Olympics is the most significant symbol of a successful Olympics in Beijing and also the most important symbol to display the national image of China."

Police at roadblocks now inspect all Beijing-bound vehicles on every route into the Chinese capital. Subway riders within the city undergo baggage checks.

"I don't mind the new security checks, as I use the subway every day, and I hope they continue after the Olympics, too," says computer engineer Liu Haisheng. "But I do resent the guns that police are now carrying on main streets. It makes us Beijingers feel uncomfortable. I think about 1989," he says, referring to the democracy protests and the massacre of hundreds of demonstrators in Tiananmen Square.

After protests earlier this year in Tibet and along the Olympic torch relay route, the Chinese government claimed that Tibetan supporters backing the exiled Dalai Lama and separatists from China's Muslim northwest planned to sabotage the Games.

"These Olympics represent the largest event the People's Republic of China has ever held," says Wang Shacheng, a research fellow at the Belfer Center's International Security Program at Harvard's Kennedy School.

"Once the Olympic torch relay started, it was obvious that China has opponents. So the government is determined to secure the Games," he says. "They are making a huge effort to ensure that not the slightest security failure takes place. They do not want China to lose face."

[/Protecting that image are the most well-trained and highly armed professionals in recent Chinese history. The government has placed surface-to-air missiles around the major Olympics venues. Beijing's SWAT team was launched in November 2005 and now numbers around 1,000 who will focus on anti-terrorism and riot control, according to the Beijing police department.

China also has the Snow Leopard Commando Unit, an elite police tactical force that trained at a secret camp for five years to be used if terrorists, hijackings or bombs threaten the Aug. 8-24 Games, according to the Beijing Review, a state magazine. And last month, the 120-member No. 1 Detachment of Beijing SWAT was renamed the Blue Sword Commando Unit.

The SWAT arsenal includes guns that shoot a nylon net resembling a spider web to ensnare anyone considered a threat. Beijing SWAT teams "have net guns among their weapons," says Zi Xiangdong with the city's police department. "They do not always carry them, but bring them according to the situation and will deploy them when necessary."

Fictional versions of this Spider-Man-like device trapped actor Arnold Schwarzenegger in the films Total Recall and The Running Man, but its makers insist it works in the real world.

"Many special police units around China have bought our net guns, as they are quick to use and do not harm the suspect," says Song Youjiang, a technician at Zonso Electronic Technology, based in Zhuhai in Guangdong province. The net is "very strong, so once a suspect is caught, the more he struggles, the more the net restricts him," Song says.

In recent years, each of China's 31 provinces have set up SWAT teams. On July 2, the Jinan SWAT team in eastern China's Shandong province held an Olympic anti-terrorism training drill that featured armed police riding Segways. Officers in precision clutched the vehicles' posts between their legs while aiming guns at cars and other targets.

Pictures of the drill provoked humor both in China and abroad, amid concern that the riders could lose their balance from the recoil of the gun.

"The Segway has a stabilizing system, and the police have undergone specialized training so that they will not fall over if they fire a gun," assures Liu Wei, a Segway spokesperson in Beijing.

Segways also will used for patrolling Beijing's new airport terminal, as well as National Stadium — dubbed the Bird's Nest and the centerpiece of the Games.

Norm Jarvis, a former Secret Service agent who assisted in security planning for the Olympics in Salt Lake City, Athens and Torino, Italy, says he has worked with Chinese officials on Olympic security planning since 2003.

"I think they've come a long way, but the proof is in the pudding," Jarvis says. "I think the question is whether they revert to measures that many international visitors may regard as extreme, if something happens.

"But I'm confident that they will rise to the occasion."
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Original story

I wonder how many tourists need to get roughed up and 'detained" before they start looking really stupid

outlawaol · 18 Jul 2008

Forget roughed up tourists, I just wonder how long it will take before they accidentally shoot down a tourist plane thinking Osama bin laden is on it throwing grenades out of it with his militants laughing manically with him.

Beware China, you might just have a force big enough to actually take down Godzilla, or a 747.. one of the two..

The_Beast · 18 Jul 2008

600,000 people protecting the Olympic games/godzilla wow

13en · 18 Jul 2008

So are there any regular police on top of the 100,000 in the anti-terror force? 500,000 volunteers, 100,000 anti-terror police, however many normal police (presumably more). They could be reaching towards 1 million people just for security. Only in China... The SAMs are nothing remarkable though, anywhere would have some sort of air defence for an event the scale of the Olympics, be it surface-to-air missiles or fighter cover or both - it's one hell of a target for any terrorist. Except, oddly, the ones that China will probably be focusing on... Over 600,000 people to beat down a few uppity Tibetans waving posters. I doubt it'll be long before we start hearing about protesters disappearing or being shot/beaten to death.

*Doesn't like the Olympics anyway. Athletics is dull*

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Missiles, 100,000 police on China's Olympic team

Cthippo Can't mod my way out of a paper bag

outlawaol Geeked since 1982

The_Beast I like wood ಠ_ಠ

13en Minimodder

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Missiles, 100,000 police on China's Olympic team

Cthippo Can't mod my way out of a paper bag

outlawaol Geeked since 1982

The_Beast I like wood ಠ_ಠ

13en Minimodder

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