Australians urging protesters not to target Olympic torch relay

The Associated Press , Canberra | Tue, 03/25/2008 6:05 PM

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.

"The ACT government has been liaising with the Chinese Embassy ... and the Australian Federal Police on security arrangements from the time Canberra was invited to participate in the torch relay," Stanhope said.

"These arrangements are well-advanced and, of course, will remain subject to whatever change or augmentation might be needed."

Falun Gong practitioners and Tibet supporters have already staged protests outside China's embassy in Canberra.

"The ACT government respects the right of anyone to air their opinions or make their sentiments known, so long as they do so in a peaceful manner and so long as they respect the laws of the ACT," Stanhope said.

"Canberra has the advantage of hosting the torch later in the global tour, and will be able to learn from the experience of other cities along the way."

China's communist leadership has faced a public relations disaster since protests of its rule turned violent March 14 in the Tibetan capital of Lhasa, sparking waves of unrest in surrounding provinces.

China reported a death toll of 22 from the violence, but Tibet's exiled government says 80 Tibetans were killed. Nineteen died in subsequent violence in Gansu province, it said. (****)

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