With less than 20 days until the Olympics, Beijing's streets have seen an increase in Peoples Armed Police in full riot gear, police with special duties and regular beat police. The police are carrying semi-automatic assault weapons for the first time. From the grim expressions on these policemen's faces, it is clear that they are prepared for a surprise attack. Beijing citizens expressed to Boxun that not even after the military crackdown in Tiananmen Square in 1989 did police take to the streets with machine guns, it feels like they are confronting a mortal enemy and has the feeling of a war zone like Iraq.

According to our news sources, in the whole-hearted commitment to hosting a safe and secure Olympics, these police are given an opportunity to play with these guns. At different times Beijing has declared that they would host a "Green Olympics," "Humane Olympics," "Science and Technology Olympics," and "Good Luck Beijing." None of these slogans were ever raised again. A "Secure and Peaceful Olympics" has superceded all, with slogans about security dominating streets. For all these years, the mainland's masses have become accustomed to expecting the opposite of the propaganda in mainstream media. These phenomena indicate that the Olympics may be anything but secure and peaceful.

In a related news item, it has been reported that in order to accommodate all these armed police, scientific institutions have been cleared out. In one scientific research institution, more than 800 armed police are being billeted.
http://news.boxun.com/news/gb/china/2008/07/200807190027.shtml