China Gears Up for Olympic Security Effort

Last week, after pop star Bjork shouted "Tibet! Tibet!" after singing her song "Declare Independence" at the close of a concert in Shanghai, the Culture Ministry, unamused, vowed tougher controls to prevent future outbursts.

"It's inevitable that there are issues that are going to take place. It's how they react to them that they'll be judged," said Scott Kronick, who as president of Ogilvy Public Relations in China represents Olympics sponsors and has worked with the Beijing Olympics organizing committee. "What are you going to do? If you react, you're just going to create a bigger impact."

Officials are leaving little to chance. In a country that tightly scripts its performances and routinely stifles dissent, officials have mobilized every level of society to guarantee social order.

"The Chinese government will be tough on protesters," said Kang Xiaoguang, a sociologist and researcher at Renmin University. "The Communist Party clearly knows what's in its interest and they will not make any concessions."

The volunteer force, whose members wear red armbands to identify themselves, say they are there to be the eyes and ears of the government.

"We always stand at the gate of our compound, and when we see strangers who look like bad people, we will ask them what they are doing," said Xu Yangxiu, 65, a housewife and volunteer in Beijing's Chaoyangmen Toutiao neighborhood.

Another volunteer, a man in a brown jacket near Tiananmen Square, scrutinized a reporter's identification card before speaking.

"If we see petitioners or protesters carrying a banner, definitely we must stop them," said the volunteer, who would only give his surname, Yao.

Police say they won't tolerate protests "harmful to the country's security, sovereignty and land integrity." At the same time, they have been trained to be as polite as possible when stopping foreigners. To better communicate with tourists, they will carry small cards bearing the flags of foreign countries and phone numbers for an international calling center.

"We must bring foreign protesters to the security office politely. Then, security officers who speak their language will talk to them. If needed, we will inform their embassy," said a policeman in Haidian in western Beijing who asked to be identified by his surname, Song. "Of course, if Chinese protest, the police will bring them to the security office, too. But our attitude will be tough, not as nice as to the foreigners."

Police have also stepped up house-to-house visits to check residency papers for foreigners and for migrant workers, many of whom previously had been allowed to stay in the capital even if they had not found jobs, but now are facing pressure to leave.

The government has said it will allow reporters to roam freely in Beijing during the Olympics and interview any willing subject. But in some foreign capitals, Chinese bureaucrats have reportedly been compiling databases of those journalists perceived to be friendly to China and those perceived as hostile.

In the same way that the government has kept its detailed plans secret, so, too, have protesters.

"We're reluctant to give out too much detail because it will affect our ability to protest," said Jill Savitt, executive director of Dream for Darfur. The organization has been pressuring China, which buys much of Sudan's oil, to do more to end the humanitarian crisis in that region of Sudan.

Olympic volunteers think they'll be ready. In addition to drills involving mock terrorists and high-tech bomb detectors, they have practiced exercises in Beijing's new stadiums and gymnasiums involving mock protesters. When volunteers in one group act drunk and disorderly, those in the other group remove them from the stands, as politely as possible.

Researcher Zhang Jie contributed to this report.