Burning down the olympics

Major Variola (ret) mv at cdc.gov
Wed Jan 9 11:31:36 PST 2002


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.





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