A leading security and development expert based in Brazil "has questioned the safety of Rio's Olympic venues, including the beach volleyball stadium," according to Simon King of THE AUSTRALIAN. Robert Muggah, from think tank the Igarape Institute, who advises the UN and World Bank on security, said that Brazilian authorities "should be more concerned about a lone-wolf attack on the Games" rather than a threat posed by major terrorist organizations. He said, "My concern right now is we're in the middle of a major political crisis and a scandal about oil -- Petrobras -- but it's also about infrastructure companies. They were seen to be getting kickbacks for doing shoddy work, and a lot of the contracts for building the Olympic venues and the roads were with these very same companies that are being investigated." Muggah pointed to the beach volleyball stadium on Copacabana Beach "as a chief concern." He said, "This has enormous scaffolding, several stories high. I was here a couple of years ago for a conference and a number of scaffolding structures collapsed." Muggah said that while authorities "obviously were taking the threat seriously," with 85,000 military and police operating as security during the Games, twice the number in London, a great deal of the preparation had been for a "larger-scale" organized attack. He added, "The caveat is while the posture has been bolstered ... and capacities have been improved, it is still oriented towards the threat of an organized terrorist-style attack and the remotely radicalized lone-wolf attacks are really hard to defend against" (THE AUSTRALIAN, 8/5).
CLEARING A PATH: REUTERS' Pedro Fonseca reported police used stun grenades and tear gas "to clear protesters in the path of the Olympic torch" in a poor suburb of Rio de Janeiro on Wednesday, two days before South America's first Olympic Games open under tight security. Olympic Brazilian sailors "earlier delivered the torch to the host city's mayor after crossing Guanabara Bay" near the end of a 20,000-km (12,400-mile) journey through one of the world's largest and most diverse countries. Police said that anti-government protesters in Duque de Caixas, on Rio's north side, "threw rocks and blocked the torch's path." Police "dispersed them with pepper spray and rubber bullets." A video of the incident spurred social media criticism of the police and "amplified complaints that the Games ignored the poor." A representative for the local organizing committee "called the incident isolated and said the protesters had held up the torch but its route was not changed." Three people were injured by rubber bullets, including a 10-year-old girl, local media reported. The clash, "which came a day after anti-torch protests in nearby towns and amid several days of gang violence in northern Brazil," underscored social tension in the massive country. Waiter Adriano Souza, 25, said, "The Olympics is a waste of time. The Games did not bring any benefits to Rio de Janeiro" (REUTERS, 8/3).
CHINESE OFFICER MAKES TRIP: In Hong Kong, Sidney Leng reported China "has sent not just athletes to the Rio Olympics, but also a policeman." The officer was dispatched to the Olympic Games as a security backup for Chinese nationals competing and touring the city "that is notorious for its poor public safety, state media reported." The policeman, whose official title is temporary police communication officer, "arrived in Rio two months ago to prepare for his role." This is the first time China has sent such an officer to Brazil, according to state media. The country has previously sent policemen to Rome and Milan to protect Chinese tourists in those cities. The officer, Shao Weimin, said, "My main job is to strengthen communication with the Rio police so that we can better protect the safety of Chinese sports delegates, tourists, journalists as well as all Chinese citizens in Rio" (SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST, 8/4).
