China launches "Great Wall" of anti-terror drills

Police officers, wearing protective clothes, evacuate an audience member during a drill simulating a chemical blast at the Olympic Beach Volleyball Venue in Chaoyang Park in Beijing, June 11, 2008.

BEIJING (Reuters) - China's security forces tackled a simulated chemical blast at the Olympic beach volleyball venue on Wednesday, launching a week of anti-terrorist drills dubbed "Great Wall 5," the official Xinhua news agency said.

Firefighters, police and other officials evacuated 400 spectators from the venue in eight minutes, and cleaned up the "chemicals" in less than an hour, making the exercise a success, the report said.

Soldiers, armed police, and health, transport and environment workers will also face a hijacking of athletes' buses, and several other scenarios, as China hones its security skills ahead of the August Games.

The drills aim to boost cooperation between Olympic security officials and anti-terror officials, and improve the efficiency of the national anti-terrorist command centre, the report said.

Beijing has drawn up a tight security plan for the Olympics, concerned about the threats of terrorism attacks.

It is also worried that foreign activists, who disrupted the international leg of the Olympic torch relay, will stage protests inside China over Tibet, Darfur, human rights and other issues during the Games.

Some 100,000 police officers and 600,000 volunteers will patrol venues, hotels and streets in Beijing during the August 8-24 Games and a network of about 300,000 surveillance cameras covers the entire capital.

Fireworks will also be banned across the capital for three months, public transport will be subject to stringent security checks, and liquids, matches and lighters have been banned in hand luggage on domestic flights.

(Reporting by Emma Graham-Harrison; Editing by Jeremy Laurence)