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Buenos Aires gears up for torch protests
Police in Buenos Aires are on maximum alert as protesters threaten to disrupt the
relay of the Olympic torch through the Argentine capital this afternoon.
Thousands of security personnel have been drafted to avoid disruptive protests by
human rights activists, such as those seen in San Francisco, London and Paris.
The legendary Argentine football player Diego Maradona is scheduled to commence
today's relay of the Olympic torch, its only stopover on Latin American soil.
The torch arrived yesterday from San Francisco in a private plane. It was immediately
whisked off to a secret location.
The huge police presence follows threats by human rights activists to stage a
"counter-relay" before the official event. "We are expecting hundreds to turn up for
our alternative demonstration," said Ileana Alesco, one of the protest organisers.
Representatives from the Relay of the Torch of Human Rights promised a number of
"surprise activities".
Alesco said the alternative event, which is due to start at noon, would be peaceful and
would not interfere with the official relay, due to start two hours later.
"Our idea is to draw attention to the human rights violations in China and to ensure
the condition of the Olympics, that the dignity of human rights is met."
The protesters intend to march from Buenos Aires's Obelisk monument to the central
Plaza de Mayo, where they will deliver a symbolic "human rights torch" to the
headquarters of the city government and to the presidential palace.
In addition to China's domestic human rights record, the protesters say they are
motivated by violence in Tibet and its ties with the government of Sudan.
Argentina's chief Olympic official, Julio Casanello, described the likely
demonstrations in Buenos Aires as "totally unforeseeable", while Jacques Rogge, the
president of the International Olympic Committee, said that the string of protests that
have dogged the torch's world tour represent a "crisis" for the Olympic movement.
The latest headache for the Olympic organisers came as China said its police had
uncovered a terrorist plot to kidnap athletes and that raids earlier this year had
disrupted a separate plot to sabotage the games by targeting tourist hotels.
The ministry of public security said 45 suspects had been detained and explosives and
firearms seized in Urumqi, the capital of the autonomous region Xinjiang. But the
news was met with scepticism from human rights groups because of the authorities'
history of exaggerating the threat of violence to strengthen their control and justify
repressive measures.
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China appeared to perform a U-turn yesterday on allowing foreigners back into Tibet
next month amid fears that protesters could disrupt the Olympic flame's trip to the top
of Everest. Travel agents said the tourist authority had ordered them to stop arranging
trips to Tibet, citing the need to secure safe passage for the torch.
Oliver Balch
(Retrieved on 11 April 2008 from The Guardian on the World Wide Web:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/apr/11/olympicgames2008.argentina)