Olympic 'flame attendants' are "thugs"

The 'flame attendants' which have concerned some observers

Sebastian Coe, one of Britain’s top athletes, has described the blue track-suited security belonging to BOCOG as ‘thugs’. On Channel Four News the former middle distance runner was quoted as saying “One thing in Paris is to get rid of those guys. They tried to push me out of the way three times. They are horrible. They did not speak English...They are thugs”. His comments had been spoken during a conversation with Jackie Brock-Doyle, the athlete’s spokeswoman, which had accidentally been connected with the Channel Four switchboard.

His criticism was not isolated. In The Times newspaper, there were further questions as to who the “Chinese minders” were. The 11 men, bedecked in blue and white track-suits, shadowed the torch on its epic journey through London. Keeping in contact by radio ear-pieces the “flame attendants” ran in symmetry alongside the torch bearer and created a barrier during the hand over of the torch. Organisers have said the men were employees of the Beijing Olympic Organising Committee (BOCOG). They landed with the flame at Heathrow on Saturday on a chartered Air China flight from St Petersburg and have accompanied the torch since it left Athens in Greece. UK Government ministers have said that they had no knowledge of their diplomatic status and Bob Broadhurst, the commanding officer for the Met’s £1 million security operation, said, “They are from Bocog. What their status beyond that is, I don’t know. Their prime role is to look after the torch and keep the flame alive.” He cited the precedent of the Tour de France, which started from London last summer and involved about 80 French police officers on motorcycles managing the peloton and the support vehicles.

However, there were further worries for Beijing tonight as Australian Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd said he would not allow the Chinese to protect the torch. “We will not be having Chinese security forces or Chinese security services providing security for the torch when it’s in Australia” Mr Rudd said during a visit to London on Monday. Meanwhile a massive security operation is said to have been put in place in San Francisco where the torch is expected to arrive on Wednesday. However there is no word on what role the “flame attendants” might play in the proceedings.