As the Olympics now goes into its fifth day there seems to be something missing from the Games— the spectators. After the biggest Olympic opening ceremony ever you would expect to see the stands full but this is not the case.
There could be a number of reasons contributing to this. According to one correspondent with the BBC, One are that the corporate courtesy tickets, which have been dished out, are only for the finalist events where medals will be won. Olympic officials who may be caught up in other parts of the games like National Olympic committee members, media and some of the teams. The other is that ticket scalpers are touting their batch of obtained tickets.
Wang Wei, the vice-president of the Games organising committee, said organisers were looking into it, suggesting that it might be because the preliminary rounds of some events were of less interest to spectators.
“The empty seats are a challenge for us and we are trying to manage that,” he said. “Quite a lot of tickets are taken up by sponsors and journalists, with the former giving tickets to their subordinates and friends.”
Tickets were available for sale starting Oct 30 on a first come first served basis. It was reported that some individuals had obtained up to 100 tickets. Due to the overwhelming demand ticket sales were suspended as the ordering system was overloaded. Organizers then reverted to a system where only eight tickets were sold per person.
Scalping is happening even with the heavy security about and the harsh penalties it will pay if you get caught touting. If caught it could land you in a labour camp. It was reported in the Canadian press that he police have told Chinese media that ticket scalpers can be detained for 10 to 15 days, but also raised the threat of re-education camps, where Chinese can be sentenced to manual labour without trial.
Nicholas Bequelin of Human Rights Watch in Hong Kong said the population of labour camps has not decreased despite some reform efforts within China. The system totally bypasses criminal law, he said.
“I think the issue here is that nobody should be deprived of his or her liberty without the benefit of a trial,” he said. “Re-education through labour is completely illegal under international law. This is arbitrary detention.”
The well documented round ups around the country in recent months are normally used by the Chinese Communist Party to send a strong message to any groups wishing to step out of line, a tactic which has been so often used by the Chinese Communist Party.
This is despite the fact that the games were granted to China on the basis that their human rights record would improve.
Mr. Zhang, a spokesman for the Beijing Municipal Public Security Bureau who like many Chinese officials would only give his last name, said they deal with scalpers under the law.
“We deal with scalpers according to how serious the case is, including the number of tickets they resell, the profits they make and whether they repeatedly break the law. So it’s hard to say whether we re-educate scalpers through labour if they resell tickets,” he said.
A notice on the website of the Beijing Municipal Public Security Bureau in May said that since March 18, the police had caught 316 scalpers and detained more than 200 of them, including two who were punished with sentences to labour camps.
There could be a number of reasons contributing to this. According to one correspondent with the BBC, One are that the corporate courtesy tickets, which have been dished out, are only for the finalist events where medals will be won. Olympic officials who may be caught up in other parts of the games like National Olympic committee members, media and some of the teams. The other is that ticket scalpers are touting their batch of obtained tickets.
Wang Wei, the vice-president of the Games organising committee, said organisers were looking into it, suggesting that it might be because the preliminary rounds of some events were of less interest to spectators.
“The empty seats are a challenge for us and we are trying to manage that,” he said. “Quite a lot of tickets are taken up by sponsors and journalists, with the former giving tickets to their subordinates and friends.”
Tickets were available for sale starting Oct 30 on a first come first served basis. It was reported that some individuals had obtained up to 100 tickets. Due to the overwhelming demand ticket sales were suspended as the ordering system was overloaded. Organizers then reverted to a system where only eight tickets were sold per person.
Scalping is happening even with the heavy security about and the harsh penalties it will pay if you get caught touting. If caught it could land you in a labour camp. It was reported in the Canadian press that he police have told Chinese media that ticket scalpers can be detained for 10 to 15 days, but also raised the threat of re-education camps, where Chinese can be sentenced to manual labour without trial.
Nicholas Bequelin of Human Rights Watch in Hong Kong said the population of labour camps has not decreased despite some reform efforts within China. The system totally bypasses criminal law, he said.
“I think the issue here is that nobody should be deprived of his or her liberty without the benefit of a trial,” he said. “Re-education through labour is completely illegal under international law. This is arbitrary detention.”
The well documented round ups around the country in recent months are normally used by the Chinese Communist Party to send a strong message to any groups wishing to step out of line, a tactic which has been so often used by the Chinese Communist Party.
This is despite the fact that the games were granted to China on the basis that their human rights record would improve.
Mr. Zhang, a spokesman for the Beijing Municipal Public Security Bureau who like many Chinese officials would only give his last name, said they deal with scalpers under the law.
“We deal with scalpers according to how serious the case is, including the number of tickets they resell, the profits they make and whether they repeatedly break the law. So it’s hard to say whether we re-educate scalpers through labour if they resell tickets,” he said.
A notice on the website of the Beijing Municipal Public Security Bureau in May said that since March 18, the police had caught 316 scalpers and detained more than 200 of them, including two who were punished with sentences to labour camps.
