Crowd nightmare haunts Beijing organisers

0 Comments | AFP, July, 2008

HONG KONG (AFP) — From spitting and booing to full-scale riots, Chinese fans loom as a potential public relations disaster for the Beijing Olympics.

Organisers have spent millions of dollars on "civilising" their notoriously unruly spectators, fearing a repeat of rowdy scenes that regularly mar football and basketball matches here.

"You cannot deny it -- the difficult area in staging a civilised Olympics rests in the quality of the people," senior Games organiser Zhang Faqiang told state media.

Leaving nothing to chance, officials have organised lessons in cheering, queuing and sportsmanship for home spectators, many of whom have little experience of such events.

But concern remains over possible flare-ups which would embarrass the hosts in front of...