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London 2012 Welcomes Militias
The antics of the 13-strong Chinese security detail which rampaged through London at the weekend have drawn some belated squirming from the British government.
Labour has been embarrassed by questions from the opposition and human rights groups. David Davis, shadow Home Secretary, said, "Security in London is a matter for the police and security services. Who were this group of individuals? On whose behalf were they acting? Are they, as reported, drawn from the Chinese People's Armed Police? What exactly was their role, jurisdiction and authority in relation to the relay?"
The Home Office has admitted that the men arrived in London on visitors visas, but refused to say if their employer was listed on their application. A police source told the Times that the men "came as part of the (Olympic) package" and that they were told they had no executive powers in London.
Didn't seem that way.
It has been revealed that the guards were handpicked agents of the People's Armed Police (PAP), a wing of the People's Liberation Army. The PAP is reported to have played a role in suppressing protests in Tibet - a spokesman for British supporters of Tibet said that it "beggared belief" that members of this unit should be allowed in Britain at all, never mind to push London cops around.
The Times reports that the paramilitary force is charged in China with "riot control, domestic stability and the protection of diplomats."
In developed countries, the Olympics represent a chance for publicity, for advertising dollars, a dose of civic and national pride. Sydney, Atlanta, Barcelona, Athens were all about the people of these cities. In the developing world, it is made perfectly clear to locals that the Olympic circus is more important than them: Their homes are bulldozed, they are sent instructions on how to behave, they are shoved out of the way to make way for the state's spectacle. This has happened in Beijing; it will also happen in London.
In any case, the Chinese guards will be perfect for London's turn at hosting the Olympics in 2012. We have discussed at length how Britain's constitutional meltdown has left it in the situation where numerous conflicting law and order codes cohabit, each seemingly taking precedent over British law; there is the US extradition law, which many Brits find one-sided (and which no other western European nation will sign); the practice of Sharia zones in some parts of London; the authorities "hands off" approach to drug dealing by certain groups; the armed goons who protect London's Russian businessmen; the Chinese paramilitaries who put their duty of protecting the Olympic flame before their obligations to British law and order. And then there's the European Union, which generates most of Britain's laws and whose Lisbon Treaty sent Britain's crumbling constitution into meltdown.
This fragmentation is set to continue. Earlier this week, EURSOC compared London to a medieval court, where potentates brought their militias while they made and broke allegiances. It appears that Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Ian Blair has approved a plan to hand over some security for the 2012 Games to visiting countries.
The Evening Standard says that the "outsourcing" plans have not been finalised (and police sources have denied Blair has approved them), but it is clear that the Police Commissioner is or was treating seriously the proposal that foreign states send their armed police and militia to police London.
Sir Ian he does not have enough armed cops to provide security for the Olympics, hence his idea of inviting other nations to send theirs. He refuses to deny that his proposals meant that foreign police would carry weapons, but said he had expressed opposition to this idea to the Home Office (the Home Office has made no comment).
To borrow a phrase from the Tibet protestors, this beggars belief. Using the Olympics to make London a lawless frontier town, an interzone somewhere between the Wild West and a Medieval court? London will be lucky if it survives in to 2012 in its present form!
