Dragons not looking too far ahead

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As the International Olympic Committee moved yesterday to douse rumours the remaining legs of the international torch relay might be cancelled due to the violent protests that have dogged its passage in London and Paris, new details emerged about the Chinese guards of the flame.

"The 29th Olympic Games Torch Relay Flame Protection Unit" is made up of about 30 young men from an elite paramilitary squad whose job, when not guarding the Olympic flame, is to control riots, protect diplomats and ensure "domestic stability".

A spokeswoman for the ACT Government said yesterday only two flame attendants would accompany the torch in Canberra, the only Australian leg of the relay, both of whom would travel by bus and not on foot, due to the "changing security environment".

"ACT Policing proposes that the flame attendants will leave the bus only in the event of the flame needing to be relit," the spokeswoman said.

With protests set to erupt today along the torch`s path in San Francisco, one of Australia`s most revered former athletes, swimmer Dawn Fraser, announced she would boycott the Beijing Games, saying China`s repression of Tibet meant they should never have been awarded the Olympics.

The Chinese security detail - involved in clashes with protesters in Europe - is at the centre of a furore in Britain, with the opposition Conservative Party demanding to know who authorised their deployment in Britain.

As Jacques Rogge prepared to meet Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao to discuss preparations for the Games, the IOC president all but ruled out an early end to the protest-plagued relay.

"It`s a false rumour. There is no discussion under way on the matter and we do not envisage such a scenario," Mr Rogge told French television.

Protest organisers in Canberra have predicted "several hundred" people would attend the April 24 protest, which they said should be peaceful.

Australian Tibet Council executive director Paul Bourke said a coalition of activist groups critical of Chinese policy would participate, including Falun Gong practitioners, pro-democracy groups and Vietnamese and Burmese organisations.

Pro-Chinese groups may also participate, with Mr Bourke saying emails were circulating attempting to organise counter-demonstrations.

Calling for the Australian leg of the relay to be scrapped, Victorian Liberal MP Bernie Finn described China`s Government as "lying, murdering, bullying old thugs".

"The so-called People`s Republic of China today lives as much by the dictum of the evil tyrant Mao Zedong that political power comes through the barrel of a gun," he told state parliament.

"The Government of China is still controlled by the same sort of lying, murdering, bullying old thugs it has always been controlled by since the victory of communism. They are barbarians who oppress their own people in the name of totalitarianism. They hate freedom."

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