Athens given green light
And away they go! From the BBC. After all the doom and gloom, the IOC declare that all of the venues will be complete. The roof has been sliding into place, as of this morning 36m of the 71m had been accomplished, and should be complete by this evening; the second half to follow next week. The security minister reported that even more security personnel will be hired and trained, while Amnesty International complained that there will be too much security - I guess you can't please everyone.
Amnesty officials appealed to Greek authorities to ensure that police and other security services staff avoid committing rights violations by exercising restraint in certain key areas.
It would be desirable if police could refrain from abusive on-the-spot identification checks and “preventative” detentions — especially of immigrants, the group said.
It also called on authorities to ensure that neither citizens nor visitors are barred from entering Olympic venues because of assumptions made by police on the basis of how they dress. Equally, the right of citizens to participate in peaceful demonstrations and rallies should not be curtailed by security services staff, the group added.
Yeah, right on Amnesty. Personally, I don't mind if the human rights of potential terrorism perpetrators, bombers or other disruptive events are marginally compromised during the Games.
On the downside, and a personal hobby horse of mine, a series of articles inside Kathimerini English Edition today, confirm that the grandiose plans for a greening of Athens will come to nought - whatever planting is done, will be done in the heat of July, will not survive the summer, and besides, is limited to SOME of the Olympic venues, and not all of Athensand indeed Attica, as was promised a couple of years ago. Typical, and sad - Greek contractors and civil servants value concrete above greenery. One has only to look at the "revamped" Omonia Square to appreciate how true this is. In fact, the ongoing disaster regarding all of Athens' public squares is a disgrace, as this article from 9 months ago indicates. None of this work will be complete by the Olympics.
7:12:22 PM 
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