Chinese push and shove for last chance Games tickets

Unwashed, unfed and lacking sleep, tens of thousands of Chinese shouted, pushed and shoved for their last chance at Olympic tickets on a hot and smoggy day, threatening to break through barricades yesterday.

Ticket hopefuls and security officials screamed back and forth as tempers flared just two weeks before the Beijing Games begin on August 8.

Loudspeakers blared over and over again, asking people to queue patiently as minor scuffles broke out in the crowd.

"We are doing everything we can to keep the situation calm," a police spokesman told reporters, estimating the crowd at more than 40,000.

Even before dawn broke, some people tried to charge the gate, prompting a swift response from officials, witnesses said.

Police were also removing people from the queue for being too pushy and at least one man was detained.

Prospective buyers have been limited to two tickets at the same competition, but officials have promised the last tranche holds tickets for events at every venue, if not every event.

Many want tickets for an event in the National Stadium, dubbed the Bird's Nest, or the Water Cube, the two showpiece stadiums that have changed Beijing's landscape.

Long queues had already formed by Wednesday afternoon, a day after Olympic organisers announced the final tranche of 820,000 tickets would go on sale.

Long queue

By Thursday, 10,000 people had formed a line snaking hundreds of metres away from the booth that opened yesterday, many hunkering down inside tents or under umbrellas to shelter from the 35 degree Celsius heat.

Police threw bottles of water into the crowd, dozens of ambulances stood by to come to the aid of those in line, and the hundreds of police and paramilitary People's Armed Police forces were also feeling the strain.

Tickets for the Games range in price from 5,000 yuan ($670) for the opening ceremony to just 30 yuan for the softball preliminaries.

Beijing's sale of the seven million-plus Olympic tickets on offer has been swift, but not without incident. Authorities are also going after scalpers.

The Beijing News said 44 had been detained, including one who had been selling 50 yuan tickets for a basketball match for 5,000 yuan.