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Drastically reinforced security checks made for a tense atmosphere in Beijing on Wednesday, with the largest international guest reception in the city¡¯s history only two days away. Black armored vehicles emerged in front of the Westin Hotel, where U.S. President George W. Bush will stay from Thursday. Guards checked all guests and stopped ordinary citizens from entering; police officers, both uniformed and plain-clothes, mounted a forbidding guard.
Armed police cars and vans lined up at China World Hotel, which will accommodate many heads of state. Black-unformed security officers surrounded the hotel carrying radios. The entire neighborhood of Sanlitun, which is home to the South Korean Embassy where President Lee Myung-bak will stay, will reportedly be blocked.
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A dancing group performs an event in front of Forbidden City on Wednesday when Olympic torch relay in Beijing started.
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With VIPs including 90-plus heads of states and athletic teams from various countries arriving one after the other, China has reinforced security at major hotels day and night. Some 34,000 troops, 74 fighter planes, 48 helicopters and 33 naval craft have been mobilized to respond to possible attacks. Ground-to-air missile units and radar facilities are deployed for possible air attacks.
Pedestrians carrying luggage are searched around Tiananmen Square, major hotels and subway station entrances. Police vehicles are parked at major crossroads and under main bridges in preparation for emergencies. Traffic and passengers are checked 24 hours a day along the expressways and highways leading to Beijing.
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Chinese People's Liberation Army troops control the traffic around Tiananmen Square on Wednesday when the Olympic torch arrived in Beijing.
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Amid all this security, a surprise demonstration for Tibetan independence took place near the main stadium Wednesday morning. Four foreigners including two Americans who carried placards reading "Tibet Will Be Free" at around 5:47 a.m. Wednesday were taken to a police station, Xinhua News reported. Security police rushed to the scene and arrested all four within 12 minutes. "China has assembly and demonstration laws and regulations. Foreigners are expected to observe Chinese laws," said Beijing Olympic Organizing Committee spokesman Sun Weide.
Yet the authorities are equally desperate to create a festival atmosphere. Red lanterns and Olympic banners in various colors are hung across the city, and flower beds and mounds of begonia, marigold and African balsam cover many places in the city. More and more taxies, bicycles and households hoist the red five-star flag. Sales of the national flag have increased 30 times during the period leading to the Olympics.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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