Burning down the olympics
Tuesday January 08 09:52 PM EST http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/abc/20020108/ts/olympicprotesters020108_1.html Olympics Officials Keep Eyes on Protesters By Geraldine Sealey ABCNEWS.com Security plan for terrorists and protesters. Security for the Salt Lake City Olympics, with a price tag exceeding $300 million, was a top priority even before Sept. 11. But international terrorism isn't the only threat: Officials are bracing for a potential record number of protesters and that some might take advantage of the world stage to make mayhem. While Olympics and city officials say they have no evidence of unruly demonstrations planned for the 17-day Games set to begin on Feb. 8, they are preparing for them. About 1 million visitors from around the world are expected to descend on the city next month along with an undetermined number of demonstrators. One official strategy for controlling demonstrations seems to be accommodating peaceful protesters as much as possible. So many demonstrators want to come to Salt Lake City to support their causes that officials are providing demonstrators seven official protest zones believed to be a first for the Games. The city is also issuing official permits for groups that want to protest in Salt Lake City during the games. By providing safe zones where demonstrators can exercise their free speech rights, city and Olympic officials are hoping to prevent the kind of violent and disorderly protests that have marred such recent international events as the 1999 World Trade Organization (news - web sites) meetings in Seattle or last year's G8 summit in Genoa, Italy. Mapping out protest zones and certifying legitimate Olympic demonstrators is helping the Games organizers keep tabs on who is showing up, officials say. The organizers clearly have learned lessons from recent violent demonstrations. They're also tuned in to radical environmental and animal rights activists, active in Utah, who have turned to violence in recent years to spread their message. "The demonstrations that have gotten out of hand like at the WTO seem to be a fairly recent phenomenon that we want to be prepared for," said Josh Ewing, a spokesman for Salt Lake City. Not All Protesters Created Equal In the new era of globally organized protesters and violence-prone anarchists, not all protesters are created equal. The protest groups who have signed up for permits to set up camp near the Olympic events are peaceful groups and are not expected to incite unrest. "[Games planners] are preparing for the worst, but animal rights have the intention of organizing non-violent protests," said Sean Diener, director of the Utah Animal Rights Coalition, which is helping to organize protests against the Olympics-sponsored Rodeo. "We have no expectation for anything to turn out like the things in Genoa or Seattle. There will be non-violent but effective protests," he said. As of late last week, 10 groups had received official protest permits from the city, including homeless activists, supporters of the banned Chinese spiritual sect Falun Gong (news - web sites), disabled rights advocates, and a church group critical of gay rights. Even though Olympics protests so far are expected to be peaceful, security officials are concerned that demonstrators interested in violence or general lawlessness could infiltrate those protesters who are coordinating their efforts with the city and Olympic officials. Officials have investigated the Web site of a group called Build Underground Resistance Not the Olympics, which claims to be devoted to agitating and educating demonstrators for the Games. The site reads: "BURN the Olympics has been initiated by radicals who are not resigned to sit back and watch our city turn into a playground for the rich. We plan on using our diverse skills and tactics to tackle the multinational death machine that is killing the planet." BURN says the Olympics are too corporate, too money-driven, advance globalization and nationalism, and ruin the environment. Another group, Citizens Activist Network, is also opposed to the Olympics on similar grounds, but has signed up for a legal permit to protest in an official zone, where BURN has not. A spokeswoman for BURN, who only goes by the name of "Sabrina," said her group would not apply for a permit because by doing so, "we would be recognizing the authority of the state to grant or deny freedom of speech." Intelligence Operation Against Anarchist Infiltration Further, she said, many globalization protesters would likely demonstrate at a meeting of G8 finance ministers scheduled for Feb. 8 and 9 in Ottawa, and so turnout among globalization protesters is not likely to be comparable at the Olympics as at other international events. It is difficult to tell how many demonstrators the BURN group legitimately represents. Salt Lake City officials believe the BURN site might only be run by the spokeswoman, with no extensive organization backing it. But still, officials are preparing for anything. To head off violent protests, law enforcement agencies have conducted years-long intelligence operations in an attempt to figure out whether potentially disruptive groups are headed to Salt Lake City. The security effort also will include handing our educational pamphlets to protesters with permits to warn them about the possibility that radical activists who would incite violence could infiltrate their ranks. While officials are doing everything in their power to allow demonstrators to have a voice during the Games, "People have been oblivious to other people infiltrating them and it's gotten nasty," Ewing said. Olympics planners will warn demonstrators that if police ask them to disperse for any reason and they do not, protesters will be arrested. Hoping for Crowd Control Stephen Clark, legal director of the Utah chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union (news - web sites), said he hopes security officials have learned how to control crowds more efficiently after past clashes with demonstrators got ugly. "There seems to have been two models: Seattle, where there seemed to be a total lack of preparation, and then the other extreme is the Republican convention in Philadelphia in 2000," he said, "where police seemed to apply a program of preventive detention by rounding up usual suspects and placing them in jail with million-dollar bails so people couldn't cause chaos for the convention. "I hope the organizers have appropriately planned for spontaneous protests, or even people who might want to cause mischief, and not overreact." The threat of violence at the Olympics is not a new phenomenon, of course. At the 1996 Atlanta Games, the bombing in Centennial Park killed 1 and injured 111, reminding Olympic organizers how vulnerable the Games could be. Terrorism also struck the Olympics in Munich in 1972 when 11 Israeli athletes were killed by Palestinian gunmen.
mv@cdc.gov (Major Variola ret) writes:
Tuesday January 08 09:52 PM EST http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/abc/20020108/ts/olympicprotesters020108_1.html
Olympics Officials Keep Eyes on Protesters
By Geraldine Sealey ABCNEWS.com
Security plan for terrorists and protesters.
Security for the Salt Lake City Olympics, with a price tag exceeding $300 million, was a top priority even before Sept. 11. But international terrorism isn't the only threat: Officials are bracing for a potential record number of protesters and that some might take advantage of the world stage to make mayhem.
While Olympics and city officials say they have no evidence of unruly demonstrations planned for the 17-day Games set to begin on Feb. 8, they are preparing for them. About 1 million visitors from around the world are expected to descend on the city next month along with an undetermined number of demonstrators.
One official strategy for controlling demonstrations seems to be accommodating peaceful protesters as much as possible. So many demonstrators want to come to Salt Lake City to support their causes that officials are providing demonstrators seven official protest zones believed to be a first for the Games. The city is also issuing official permits for groups that want to protest in Salt Lake City during the games.
By providing safe zones where demonstrators can exercise their free speech rights, city and Olympic officials are hoping to prevent the kind of violent and disorderly protests that have marred such recent international events as the 1999 World Trade Organization (news - web sites) meetings in Seattle or last year's G8 summit in Genoa, Italy.
Mapping out protest zones and certifying legitimate Olympic demonstrators is helping the Games organizers keep tabs on who is showing up, officials say. The organizers clearly have learned lessons from recent violent demonstrations. They're also tuned in to radical environmental and animal rights activists, active in Utah, who have turned to violence in recent years to spread their message.
"The demonstrations that have gotten out of hand like at the WTO seem to be a fairly recent phenomenon that we want to be prepared for," said Josh Ewing, a spokesman for Salt Lake City.
Not All Protesters Created Equal
In the new era of globally organized protesters and violence-prone anarchists, not all protesters are created equal. The protest groups who have signed up for permits to set up camp near the Olympic events are peaceful groups and are not expected to incite unrest.
"[Games planners] are preparing for the worst, but animal rights have the intention of organizing non-violent protests," said Sean Diener, director of the Utah Animal Rights Coalition, which is helping to organize protests against the Olympics-sponsored Rodeo. "We have no expectation for anything to turn out like the things in Genoa or Seattle. There will be non-violent but effective protests," he said.
As of late last week, 10 groups had received official protest permits from the city, including homeless activists, supporters of the banned Chinese spiritual sect Falun Gong (news - web sites), disabled rights advocates, and a church group critical of gay rights.
Even though Olympics protests so far are expected to be peaceful, security officials are concerned that demonstrators interested in violence or general lawlessness could infiltrate those protesters who are coordinating their efforts with the city and Olympic officials.
Officials have investigated the Web site of a group called Build Underground Resistance Not the Olympics, which claims to be devoted to agitating and educating demonstrators for the Games. The site reads: "BURN the Olympics has been initiated by radicals who are not resigned to sit back and watch our city turn into a playground for the rich. We plan on using our diverse skills and tactics to tackle the multinational death machine that is killing the planet."
BURN says the Olympics are too corporate, too money-driven, advance globalization and nationalism, and ruin the environment. Another group, Citizens Activist Network, is also opposed to the Olympics on similar grounds, but has signed up for a legal permit to protest in an official zone, where BURN has not. A spokeswoman for BURN, who only goes by the name of "Sabrina," said her group would not apply for a permit because by doing so, "we would be recognizing the authority of the state to grant or deny freedom of speech."
Intelligence Operation Against Anarchist Infiltration
Further, she said, many globalization protesters would likely demonstrate at a meeting of G8 finance ministers scheduled for Feb. 8 and 9 in Ottawa, and so turnout among globalization protesters is not likely to be comparable at the Olympics as at other international events.
It is difficult to tell how many demonstrators the BURN group legitimately represents. Salt Lake City officials believe the BURN site might only be run by the spokeswoman, with no extensive organization backing it. But still, officials are preparing for anything.
To head off violent protests, law enforcement agencies have conducted years-long intelligence operations in an attempt to figure out whether potentially disruptive groups are headed to Salt Lake City.
The security effort also will include handing our educational pamphlets to protesters with permits to warn them about the possibility that radical activists who would incite violence could infiltrate their ranks.
While officials are doing everything in their power to allow demonstrators to have a voice during the Games, "People have been oblivious to other people infiltrating them and it's gotten nasty," Ewing said.
Olympics planners will warn demonstrators that if police ask them to disperse for any reason and they do not, protesters will be arrested.
Hoping for Crowd Control
Stephen Clark, legal director of the Utah chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union (news - web sites), said he hopes security officials have learned how to control crowds more efficiently after past clashes with demonstrators got ugly.
"There seems to have been two models: Seattle, where there seemed to be a total lack of preparation, and then the other extreme is the Republican convention in Philadelphia in 2000," he said, "where police seemed to apply a program of preventive detention by rounding up usual suspects and placing them in jail with million-dollar bails so people couldn't cause chaos for the convention.
"I hope the organizers have appropriately planned for spontaneous protests, or even people who might want to cause mischief, and not overreact."
The threat of violence at the Olympics is not a new phenomenon, of course. At the 1996 Atlanta Games, the bombing in Centennial Park killed 1 and injured 111, reminding Olympic organizers how vulnerable the Games could be.
Terrorism also struck the Olympics in Munich in 1972 when 11 Israeli athletes were killed by Palestinian gunmen.
Terrorism also struck the Olympics in Munich in 1972 when 11 Israeli athletes were killed by Palestinian gunmen.
Not quite. 11 Israeli athletes were captured by some Palestinians. They were killed when the Israeli military attacked the site where they were being held, and slaughtered everything that moved. It is and always has been the policy of the Zionist Entity to regard its civilians as expendable for propaganda purposes in any hostage situation. That is why, for instance, the Israelis immediately move their own civilians in as human shields when they illegally occupy an area. Referred to, of course, by the Israelis and their poodles in US government as "settlements." "I want to tell you something very clear: Don't worry about American pressure on Israel. We, the Jewish people, control America, and the Americans know it." --Ariel Sharon October 3, 2001 -- Eric Michael Cordian 0+ O:.T:.O:. Mathematical Munitions Division "Do What Thou Wilt Shall Be The Whole Of The Law"
On Friday, January 11, 2002, at 11:45 AM, Eric Cordian wrote:
Terrorism also struck the Olympics in Munich in 1972 when 11 Israeli athletes were killed by Palestinian gunmen.
Not quite. 11 Israeli athletes were captured by some Palestinians. They were killed when the Israeli military attacked the site where they were being held, and slaughtered everything that moved.
I guess all the television footage showing the helicopter and the grenade dropped by one of the Fatah members was Zionist propaganda. Those Jews are really sneaky! (What's worse is that they implanted false memories in me, as I saw the coverage live on ABC as it happened.) --Tim May "The Constitution is a radical document...it is the job of the government to rein in people's rights." --President William J. Clinton
Tim writes:
I guess all the television footage showing the helicopter and the grenade dropped by one of the Fatah members was Zionist propaganda. Those Jews are really sneaky!
Apparently, I confused the events in Munich in '72 with another "rescue" operation in which civilians were obliterated by the rescue team, and their deaths were later attributed to the hostage takers. After some refreshing of my memory from the news coverage of the events, I will correct the account to read as follows. Palestinians took 11 Israeli athletes hostage and two of them were killed during the hostage taking. The Mossad, the Israeli secret service, requested to bring in a hostage rescue team into Germany, and was refused by the German government. With the head of the Mossad, Zvi Zamir, acting as an observer and adviser in Germany, a rescue was attempted by German police, which resulted in the killing of the remaining 9 athletes. I will still stand by my points about Israeli policy towards Israeli civilians held hostage, settlements, and Sharon's "The Jewish people control America" comments before the Knesset. The Munich festivities were apparently later immortalized for history in a Michael Douglas film, which now serves as peoples public recollection of the events, rather than the coverage that took place at the time. -- Eric Michael Cordian 0+ O:.T:.O:. Mathematical Munitions Division "Do What Thou Wilt Shall Be The Whole Of The Law"
At 12:37 PM 1/11/2002 -0800, Eric Cordian wrote:
The Munich festivities were apparently later immortalized for history in a Michael Douglas film, which now serves as peoples public recollection of the events, rather than the coverage that took place at the time.
Michael Douglas narrated the (Oscar-winning) documentary, which is mostly recent eyewitness/participant interviews interspersed with archived recordings of the coverage that took place at the time. It hardly seems reasonable to be snotty about any film whose recitation of the facts of the event is significantly more correct than yours was. -- Greg Broiles -- gbroiles@parrhesia.com -- PGP 0x26E4488c or 0x94245961 Eliminate due process, civil rights? It's the Constitution, stupid!
-- On 11 Jan 2002, at 11:45, Eric Cordian wrote:
Not quite. 11 Israeli athletes were captured by some Palestinians. They were killed when the Israeli military attacked the site where they were being held, and slaughtered everything that moved.
It is and always has been the policy of the Zionist Entity to regard its civilians as expendable for propaganda purposes in any hostage situation.
I regularly condemn Israel as racist, partly theocratic nation, ruled by murderous bigots elected by homicidally bigoted voters. But on this matter they are quite correct. Ideally, one would to save the hostages and get the hostage takers. But it is necessary to get the hostage takers, and if some hostages should die in the course of getting the hostage takers, that is the way the cookie crumbles.
That is why, for instance, the Israelis immediately move their own civilians in as human shields when they illegally occupy an area. Referred to, of course, by the Israelis and their poodles in US government as "settlements."
The settlements are not human shields. Rather, they are a way of sending contradictory messages: One message to the world in peace initiatives that they are willing to give up some land for a peace settlement with the Palestinians, and the other message to the Palestinians, that Israel is going to take it all, so Palestinians should move to Iran or someplace. --digsig James A. Donald 6YeGpsZR+nOTh/cGwvITnSR3TdzclVpR0+pr3YYQdkG RUOe2J4wUtdi7gSqRwzQJwfTcCZzNykzT/f0jdNq 4ms558kBZtkAHyTKBrO3YdKLAgUnZxj+ma650xWcs
participants (6)
-
A. Melon -
Eric Cordian -
Greg Broiles -
jamesd＠echeque.com -
Major Variola (ret) -
Tim May