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Beijing police tighten security after stabbing

"I told him not to go because it's during the Olympic Games and this period is sensitive." — Hua Huilin, brother of Christian activist detained on his way to church

Police tightened security yesterday and resumed investigating the fatal stabbing of the father of a former Olympian, an attack that stunned the athletic community and embarrassed Chinese authorities determined to hold the most successful Summer Games ever.

Todd and Barbara Bachman of Lakeville, Minneapolis — parents of 2004 volleyball Olympian Elisabeth “Wiz” Bachman and in-laws of US men’s volleyball coach Hugh McCutcheon — were attacked by a Chinese man while visiting the 13th-century Drum Tower on Saturday.

The assault came only hours after the spectacular opening ceremony for the Games.

The US Olympic Committee confirmed Bachman died from knife wounds and that Barbara Bachman suffered life-threatening injuries.

She and their Chinese tour guide, who was also injured in the attack, were being treated in a Beijing hospital.

The committee said yesterday that Bachman suffered multiple lacerations and stab wounds. She underwent eight hours of surgery and was in critical but stable condition. The statement said family members were at the hospital and that McCutcheon would “not be on the bench today” for the US men’s volleyball team’s opening game against Venezuela.

Rob Browning, team leader of the men’s volleyball team, said the team was united in supporting the Bachmans.

“We are absolutely devastated by what has occurred, for their loss and for everything they are going through,” Browning said. “We are a family and we’ll get through this together as a family.”

US President George W. Bush thanked Beijing yesterday for its handling of the attack.

“Your government has been very attentive, very sympathetic and I appreciate that a lot,” Bush told Chinese President Hu Jintao (胡錦濤) before they met for private talks at the presidential compound.

Hu said his government took the incident “very seriously” and pledged to keep Washington apprised of the investigation.

MORE ARRESTS

Five people staged a protest near Tiananmen Square yesterday against Chinese rule of Tibet, an activist group said, in the latest pro-Tibet demonstration to hit Beijing around the Olympics.

Two of the protesters, including a Tibetan woman from Germany, Padma-Dolma Fielitz, held the Tibetan flag just outside the southern entrance of the square in central Beijing, Students for a Free Tibet said in a statement.

As Chinese security guards tried to take the flag away, Fielitz, 21, was seen being dragged across the ground, the organization said.

Three other activists then tried to unveil a banner that read “Tibetans are dying for freedom,” before they were taken away, the group said.

All five protesters — Fielitz, two Americans and two Canadians — were detained and their whereabouts were unknown.

Students for a Free Tibet also said five Canadian activists were being detained at their hotel in Beijing and questioned in the basement.

DETAINED

Also yesterday, a Christian activist and his brother were detained while on their way to a church service attended by Bush, the activist’s brother said.

Hua Huilin said he and his brother, Hua Huiqi, a housing activist and member of an underground Christian church, were stopped by two black cars while bicycling to the church around dawn.

Hua Huilin said they were taken away in separate cars by security agents, whom his brother recognized from previous encounters. He was released in the afternoon, but Hua Huiqi was still at an undisclosed location, he said.

“I told him not to go because it’s during the Olympic Games and this period is sensitive,” Hua Huilin said in a telephone interview. “But he was determined to go because he said that church was where he was baptized. So I went with him hoping to protect him.”

The line was disconnected three times during Hua’s conversation, a sign that authorities were monitoring the call.
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