China offers £50,000 for Olympics terror tip-offs

Police are offering their biggest rewards for tip-offs that prevent security threats, demonstrations or attacks on foreigners at the Olympic Games next month.The announcement underscores a nervousness among Chinese authorities that injury to a foreign visitor, or a public demonstration of dissent could damage the country’s reputation when the eyes of the world are watching the August 8-24 Games in Beijing.A security crackdown has already led to the tightening of visas; bars have been ordered to halt live music and thousands of migrant workers have been sent back to their farms.The Beijing Bureau for Social Order said that it would offer rewards of up to 700,000 yuan (£50,000) for information on big security threats. The rewards aim to “mobilise the enthusiasm of the masses in maintaining public security, as well as to control and eliminate hidden dangers to the Olympic Games”.The smallest reward for credible tips on terror attacks, sabotage by “illegal cults” or attacks on foreigners is 10,000 yuan.This week Chinese police shot dead five men from the Uighur Muslim minority in China’s westernmost region during a raid in which the suspects were reported to have rushed at police, waving knives and shouting “sacrifice for Allah”.There has been a low-level insurgency in the western Xinjiang region that has simmered for decades among Uighurs resentful of Chinese rule, but no violence has been reported since 1997.Officials said that they had detained 82 suspected terrorists and cracked five organisations in Xinjiang that had been planning to attack the Games since the start of the year.Beijing has banned the Falun Gong spiritual sect and jailed hundreds, probably thousands, of its members since 1999 after more than 10,000 practitioners ringed the Zhongnanhai compound, which is the heart of the Chinese Government, in a silent demonstration that took the authorities by surprise.Beijing, keen to use the Games to showcase its rise as a modern economic power, has instituted a series of security measures. A 100,000-strong anti-terrorism force is in place, surface-to-air missiles have been deployed around venues and bag searches are conducted on the underground.Chinese police offered their first reward of 50,000 yuan for tip-offs in 1983 after two brothers shot dead four people.In 2004 police offered 200,000 yuan for information leading to the arrest of a student who murdered four roommates and hid their bodies.