Chinese Special Armed Police Guard Olympic Torch Relay

The level and intensity of the protests surprised me. On reflection, I understand the passion of the protesters. Tibet has a place in the heart of many, because of its Buddhism and of the Dalai Lama. The justice of China having overtaken it is questionable, at least.

As the Beijing Olympic torch procession has fought its way through crowds of protesters in London and Paris on its way to today's leg in San Francisco, a squad of blue-clad Chinese men has guarded the flame, at times shoving people away who tried to get too close.

Men in blue-and-white tracksuits protected the Olympic torch in London Sunday, as police scuffled with protestors.
International Olympic Committee President Jacques Rogge said in an interview Tuesday that he did not know who the men in blue are. British police would say only that they are "torch attendants whose role was to protect the torch." Lord Sebastian Coe, a two-time Olympic gold medalist and chairman of London's Olympic organizing committee, called them "thugs."

First, a bureaucratic evasion; then police obfuscation; finally, the truth. Imagine allowing an escort of armed police on sovereign soil.

The security men appear to be members of the Beijing Olympic Games Sacred Flame Protection unit, a detachment of personnel from China's People's Armed Police. The paramilitary People's Armed Police force has wide-ranging duties, from protecting diplomatic missions to maintaining internal security. Units of the People's Armed Police were deployed to forcibly quell violent unrest last month in Tibet. A person familiar with security arrangements in London said: "We received 12 guys, and we were told these guys would be the inner circle." The person said that British police were not made aware that the Chinese men were members of the People's Armed Police. A spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy in London also said he was "unaware" of who made up the security team.

A person familiar? A police source, perhaps.

The mystery around the identities of the Chinese guards has received a lot of attention in the British media. Tuesday's political cartoon in The Times of London has one track-suited Chinese guard outside Number 10 Downing Street, with Prime Minister Gordon Brown looking at his usual police guard in a beaten up heap.