Olympic torch lands in Bangkok, Japanese get jitters

BANGKOK—The Olympic torch landed amid tight security on Friday in the Thai capital, the latest leg of its world tour, with police saying they were ready to stop any attempt by anti-China activists to put out the flame.
Several groups angry at Beijing’s human rights record and its rule in Tibet are planning demonstrations in Bangkok, but will not face any opposition from police as long as they remain orderly, Thai Olympic chief General Yuthasak Sasiprapa said.
“If they are peaceful, it’s OK,” he told Reuters. “But we will not tolerate any violent or illegal protests. The torch and runners will be tightly escorted by police patrols and motorcycles all along the route.” Security concerns and anger at Beijing’s March crackdown on unrest in Tibet caused an iconic Buddhist temple in Japan to pull out as the starting point of next week’s torch relay in the country.
Zenkoji temple in the central city of Nagano said it had received 1,000 letters from across Japan calling for its withdrawal from the April 26 procession following the crackdown in Buddhist Tibet, in which monasteries were raided and monks arrested.
“We needed to think about security, being a temple with national treasures and many visitors,” a temple official said.
“We also had to take into account the many messages of concern that we, as a Buddhist temple, received from residents all over the country and from our followers after growing international focus on the Tibet issue.”
Japan has already made it clear the Chinese paramilitary guards who have been criticised elsewhere as being heavy-handed in their guarding of the torch will not be welcome. Throughout its long journey from Greece to the Games’ official opening ceremony in Beijing in August, the torch has been beset by protests, mainly focusing on Chinese rule in Tibet.
In the previous leg of its swing through Asia, in India, 15,000 police had to be deployed to keep at bay protesters from the world’s largest community of exiled Tibetans. Thai police are bracing for a demonstration of about 100 people outside the regional headquarters of the United Nations, which lies on the 10.5 km route from Bangkok’s China Town past the golden-spired Grand Palace.
The relay is due to start at 0800 GMT on Saturday and short-cuts and alternative routes have been made ready in case of any “unexpected incidents”, Yuthasak said. The reports of disruptions to the torch relay have caused a mixture of anger and dismay in China, where most people see them as unfair attempts to spoil the country’s moment in the sun.
On Friday, Chinese media reported that two famous artists had pulled out of an exhibition in France in the latest display of anger at what is seen as a failure by French authorities to protect the torch on its swing through Paris. Numerous protests and attempts by activists to snatch the torch prompted Chinese security officials to extinguish the torch several times and put in on a bus.
Wang Guangyi and Lu Hao, two of the biggest names in China’s roaring contemporary art scene, said they would not take part in a June exhibition at a Paris gallery because of French attitudes toward the Olympics.
The support of some in France for a boycott of the Games “made me feel very annoyed, so we thought that at this particular time attending the exhibition would be unhappy and decided not to go”, the Beijing News quoted Wang as saying.
Both artists stressed that their decision was personal, with Wang adding he had great respect for French culture and would not rule out future cooperation there, the report said. Chinese Internet users have called on consumers to boycott French exports and to stop shopping at French retail giant Carrefour, which they say supports pro-Tibetan groups seeking to disrupt the Games, which open in Beijing on Aug. 8.

—Agencies