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Olympic tickets spark chaos
25/07/2008 11:52 - (SA)
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| A Chinese paramilitary police officer helps a man cool off outside a ticket office in Beijing. (Andy Wong, AP) |
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Charles Whelan
Beijing - Violence broke out on Friday among the more than 50 000 people who queued to grab the last batch of Olympic tickets on sale in Beijing, as police struggled to control the frustrated fans.
The mood was tense and strained as angry people - some of whom had been queuing for two days - jostled to maintain or improve their place in the long line.
At one point the surging crowd broke through a control barrier and lurched towards the ticket counters.
In hot and dusty conditions, some groups in the crowd chanted insults at the police who were seen dragging people out of the line and kicking and punching them before leading them away.
"The police didn't have a clue how many people would come here and there was no organisation at all, it was chaos," said Wang Zhongliang, a delivery worker for UPS.
It was the last chance for Chinese to buy tickets for the Games, with 250 000 on sale at several locations in Beijing from 01:00 GMT for events including athletics, diving, and gymnastics.
Demand was so high that more than 10 000 people were in the line by Thursday at one of the main ticket selling centres near the Olympic Stadium, district police chief Xiong Xingguo said.
Reinforcements
By early Friday huge reinforcements of police were moved in to maintain order as numbers ballooned to between 40 000 and 50 000, Xiong said.
Xiong conceded that police had been taken by surprise by the numbers.
"The situation was chaotic and difficult," he said. "Once the newspapers released the news about the ticket sale, too many people came at once so we had a security problem."
A Hong Kong journalist was detained by police on Friday while covering the chaotic scenes, organisers and an AFP witness said.
Despite the pushing, jostling and discomfort, Xu Wengang, an information technology expert, said that he thought the method of ticket sales was fair.
"This way everybody gets a chance. But that's also the problem, because so many people came. It's a lot of trouble but it's fair," said Xu, 30, looking for tickets for the synchronised swimming.
There were smiles too from people like 23-year-old Lei Peng, who had slept on the footpath for two nights.
'It was hard but worth it'
The engineering graduate from eastern China's Anhui province was close to the head of one massive queue and managed to score two seats to one of the hottest event of the Games - the final of the men's 110m hurdles.
Chinese hopes for an athletics gold medal rest on Olympic and world champion Liu Xiang who is defending his 110m hurdles title.
"It was hard but worth it," said Lei, who had been queuing since midday on Wednesday.
Han Ruxiang, 76, had spent two nights sleeping on a bamboo mat so that he and his 67-year-old wife could see the finals of the diving competition.
"How can you be Chinese and not go to the Olympics when it is in China?" he said. "I am tired but so happy."
Altogether around seven million tickets were up for sale for the Games, with around 75% going to China's vast domestic audience, with the rest made available overseas through each country's National Olympic Committee.
Friday's release of tickets was the fourth and final round of sales for the August 8-24 Games.
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