China's thugs and fears over 2012 'gun guards'

The Olympic flame fiasco has ignited a row over foreign security services helping to police the 2012 Olympics, the Evening Standard can reveal. As alarm grew over the Chinese guards who accompanied the torch through London it emerged Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Ian Blair has approved a plan to hand over some of London's Olympic security to visiting countries. Although a final decision has yet to be made,it is understood police officers from abroad accompanying their own teams may be allowed to carry guns.

Sir Ian has faced bitter opposition at the Metropolitan Police Authority over the proposed arrangement. There has been serious concern over Sir Ian's argument that London does not have enough firearms officers to cope with the potential threats of 2012. Now, the presence on London's streets of Chinese "thugs" - as Lord Coe described them - has intensified pressure for the use of foreign security to be dropped.

The issue adds to dismay over the chaotic and violent scenes that accompanied-London's torch relay: 37 people were arrested as the so-called Journey of Harmony deteriorated into a series of running battles between police, pro-Tibet demonstrators and the Chinese guards.

The farcical events were repeated in Paris yesterday and there were calls today for the flame relay to be abandoned. IOC President Jacques Rogge said: "Violence for whatever reason is not compatible with the values of the torch relay or the Olympic Games." The flame arrives in San Francisco tomorrow - where protesters carrying Tibetan flags have already scaled the Golden Gate bridge - and then follows a route around the world taking in cities including Buenos Aires, Islamabad, New Delhi, Bangkok, Seoul, Pyongyang and ending in Beijing.

In London there are now questions over who authorised the Chinese guards. Evening Standard's own investigation revealed that they were part of an entourage of more than 100 travelling with the flame. The role of the torch attendants was discussed at meetings between the Greater London Authority's Events for London department, headed by Jude Woodward, and the police. Commander Bob Broadhurst, who was in charge of planning and oversaw the deployment of around 2,000 officers, is believed to have agreed to the Chinese accompanying the relay.

Tony Arbour, a Conservative member of the police authority, is among those who have voiced concern about the prospects of armed foreign police being in London for the 2012 Olympics. He told the Evening Standard: "When I saw those Chinese guards, apparently taking charge over our own police officers around London, I felt grave disquiet. Many of the teams coming to London in 2012 will be bringing their own security. We have asked Sir Ian if these people will be armed and he has refused to deny it.

"When I look at what happened in London on Sunday and I think of what could happen in 2012, I'm appalled. The Chinese security men seemed to be managing events. If we acquiesce in this kind of thing it seems to be an admission that London can no longer police itself. Trafalgar Square is not Tiananmen Square."

The role of the Chinese guards was called into question after sources in Australia - where they have been banned - suggested they were hand-picked members of China's security services.

A report in London said they were from crack special forces units of the Chinese military, including the Flying Dragons and Sword of Southern China counter-terrorism outfits. It also emerged today that the chairman of London's 2012 Olympics committee Lord Coe had several brushes with the guards and called them "thugs".

In a conversation accidentally overheard by Channel 4 television staff, Lord Coe, who has two Olympic gold medals, revealed he was pushed around by the torch attendants. As journalists at the station tried to contact Lord Coe, one was accidentally plugged into a private conversation he was having with his press officer.

Channel 4 News later disclosed Lord Coe said: "They tried to push me out of the way three times. They are horrible. They did not speak English ... I think they were thugs." He added: "One thing in Paris, is to get rid of those guys."

The torch attendants did take part in the Paris relay yesterday, but the flame was extinguished as pro-Tibet demonstrators ambushed it on the route.

Evening Standard's own investigation into Sunday's events revealed that the Chinese - nicknamed Smurfs by Met officers because of their sky-blue track suits and baseball caps - tried to control elements of the torch relay and, according to witnesses, grappled with demonstrators and threw them to the ground. Human rights campaigner Peter Tatchell was arrested by the police when he staged his own protest over China's policies in Tibet.

He said of the Chinese guards: "I saw them jostling and pushing people. Then, in Whitehall, they were throwing protesters to the ground. I got the impression these men were highly-trained and highly-disciplined military types. And they seemed to be in charge. It was shocking that Chinese agents effectively took precedence over the Met."

Television presenter Konnie Huq, who carried the torch for part of the route through London, said of the Chinese guards: "They were very robotic, full-on and I noticed them having skirmishes with our own police and the Olympic authorities. They were barking orders like 'run' and 'stop' and I was like: 'Who are these people?'"

Australia's prime minister Kevin Rudd said that the Chinese would not provide security when the torch is relayed through Canberra. At a joint press conference in Downing Street after talks with Gordon Brown yesterday he said: "We will not be having Chinese security forces or Chinese security services providing security for the torch when it is in Australia." He added pointedly: "We, Australia, are providing that security."

Mr Rudd appeared to confirm reports that the flame attendants are indeed members of China's security apparatus which has been responsible for the recent suppression of protests in Tibet.

Evening Standard tried, without success, to ask Chinese officials who, precisely, the 13 blue-suited men were. Their boss seems to be Jiang Xiaoyu, 60, the Chinese government's senior apparatchik who has been assigned the task of accompanying the Olympic torch. He can be identified at torch ceremonies by his distinctive combover haircut and he was on stage at the O2 Arena on Sunday with Princess Anne and Sebastian Coe, among other Olympic personalities. It was Jiang who was consulted as organisers considered abandoning the torch relay in London at the height of the chaos and he has overseen the most sensitive decisions together with China's UK ambassador Fu Ying.

In 20 years as an official in the Beijing municipal government Jiang has served as local party secretary and head of the culture bureau. After Beijing won the Olympic bid, he was rewarded with his current job.

Interviewed by the Standard in Beijing last year, Jiang answered questions with a series of pre-prepared mission statements, talking of the Chinese economy's double-digit annual growth and a "civility programme" to coincide with the games. Its motto is "participate, contribute, enjoy".

We tried to talk to Chinese officials in London about the security phalanx that surrounds the flame but they would not answer questions. One simply turned on his heel and hurried away. There was no response from Chinese embassy press officers.

Chinese officials said privately that the flame attendants did not try to influence Sunday's relay but the Standard has evidence that contradicts this.

A torchbearer who carried the flame through the East End said: "At one point I was flanked by a flame attendant and a Met police officer. The Chinese guy shouted 'Slow Down' to me - he was trying to set the pace. The Met guy reacted instantly. 'Listen mate,' he said, 'we're in charge here.' There was clearly tension between the two.

"You just wonder what would have happened if one of the Chinese flame attendants had got into a violent situation with a protester. It could have been nasty - it could have provoked a diplomatic incident. They seemed to be up for a fight. They were big guys who could clearly look after themselves and they were pretty well disciplined in terms of keeping together.

"They didn't communicate officially with the police officers. What I don't understand is that London has plenty of police officers who are club runners and marathon entrants. Why did we need these Chinese guys?"

We put this question to Scotland Yard. A spokeswoman replied: "The Metropolitan Police Service was responsible for the safety, security and safe passage of the torchbearer and torch as it travelled through London. The torch attendants had no executive power in London. Their responsibility was to maintain the flame as it travelled. There were clear lines of responsibility between police officers and the torch attendants."

The Yard's statement added that the Chinese were comparable to the Greeks who accompanied the flame before the Athens Olympics and the French Garde Republicaine who provide a guard of honour for the Tour de France. But none of those honour guards was deployed in potentially violent situations.

Norman Baker, the Lib-Dem frontbencher and UK president of the Tibet Society, told the Standard: "The streets of London must be policed by the police of London, not by Chinese security forces.

When it comes to Tibet, the people of Britain want a strong moral stand. But it seems the Government is prepared to kowtow to the Chinese at every turn."

Mr Baker, who has held talks with the Dalai Lama at his refuge in northern India, added: "Gordon Brown seems more interested in trade deals with China than the fate of Tibet."

Evening Standard understands that there was quiet satisfaction among senior officers and ministers that the flame had been successfully relayed around the exceptionally difficult, 31-mile route in London without being extinguished, as it was in Paris.

The Free Tibet campaign group, which organised some of the protests, told the Standard it was drafting a letter to the Government to ask about the role of the Chinese guards. Spokesman Matt Whitticase said: "The questions are - exactly who are these people and what are they doing providing 'security' on our streets?"

With the revelation that foreign police and security agents may well be providing an armed presence at London's Olympics in four years' time, answers may be required sooner rather than later.