Now China ticket scalpers turn attention to Paralympics

BEIJING (Reuters) - Beijing police caught 134 scalpers selling Paralympic Games tickets near competition venues and detained 99 in a single day, local media reported on Thursday.

Police swept up scalpers on Wednesday for "disturbing social order" at two entrances of the main Olympic Green and a nearby subway station, the Beijing News said, citing the capital's public security authority.

The detained had been handed "administrative punishments and fined", the paper said.

Scalping was rife at last month's Beijing Olympics, with locals and foreigners seen openly offering tickets outside venues, despite government pledges to crack down and dozens of arrests. Policemen were even seen among the buyers.

Beijing is set to host the best attended Paralympics ever, with some events sold out and athletics and swimming events drawing near-packed houses in the iconic Bird's Nest and Water Cube venues.

To ensure good attendances, authorities have given away 620,000 tickets to students, the disabled and pensioners, and even offered free T-shirts and cash to some spectators to cheer on Paralympic athletes.

(Reporting by Ian Ransom; Editing by Nick Macfie)