Security checks on tourists during Olympics

Tourists visiting Beijing’s Tiananmen Square, site of the 1989 violent crackdown on student demonstrators, will have to pass through a security check, a government official said today.

The boost in security checks at the iconic square comes as more visitors arrive for the Olympic Games, said Jia Yingting, deputy director of the Tiananmen Square management committee. His comments were from a transcript of a news conference posted on the website of the Beijing International Media Centre.

“Everyone who enters the square will pass through security checks to enter,” Mr Jia said. “We will increase and improve the security checks as the number of tourists keeps growing, to maintain the safety of the square.”

Each underground entrance to the square already has a security checkpoint, he said. But it is not clear how visitors who stroll into the square from across the surrounding roads will be checked.

Police regularly patrol the area, especially during Communist Party meetings, and swiftly respond to any perceived sign of trouble.

Lying in the heart of Beijing just south of the Forbidden City, the square has also been the subject of heated debates between television stations who want to broadcast live from there during the games and Chinese officials who appear concerned that the cameras may attract protests.

The square has often been a focal point for demonstrations. But the government has been quick to snuff out any sign of protest since the military cracked down on pro-democracy student demonstrators in June 1989. Hundreds were thought to be killed, although most of the deaths were away from the square.