From AP, via the International Herald Tribune:
With a month to go before the Olympics — a time when most host cities are set to offer the world a warm greeting — Beijing seems wary.
Hotels are empty as stricter visa rules keep visitors away. Police in bulletproof vests and with bomb-sniffing dogs prowl roadways. Peddlers have been told to clear off the streets, and unsightly restaurants have been closed. New postal rules prohibit the mailing not only of explosives, but any pastes, electronics and “unidentifiable metal objects.”
Even in the hills outside Beijing, farmers who have turned their farmhouses into rustic inns have been told by police to turn away one group of would-be guests. “Foreigners! Oh, that’s a bit troublesome,” said Sun Fuwang, proprietor of the Spartan Fuwang Farm Home near the tombs of China’s last imperial rulers.
Alongside stunning sports venues, new subway lines and floral displays, Beijing is rolling out restrictive measures dampening any festive feeling ahead of the Aug. 8-24 games.
Photo source: CCTV.
