By APP
Beijing : Thousands of sturdy young men, mainly from northern China, have been recruited to serve as Olympics guards and will receive security and etiquette training.
A group of 200 security guards from the northeastern province of Jilin arrived here early this week. The strongly built young men, moving in orderly formation, caught people’s eyes and some Beijingers initially mistook them for special police.
“This is the first group of security guards we selected for Beijing’s Olympics. There will be more,” said Liu Daqing, director of the Employment Service Bureau in Shuangliao City, Jilin, who helped in selection of the new guards.
He said that the guards were aged 23 on average and stood higher than 1.74 meters. They could speak standard Mandarin and basic English.
“Security guards assigned to Olympics duties will undergo selective training
in self-defense, first aid, emergency procedures, protocol and language,” said an official with the Dongcheng Division of the Beijing Security Guard Service Company.
The company, run by the city’s police bureau, will help police to keep order during the 2008 Olympics.
Beijing would need many security guards and volunteers to help Games attendees go through security procedures and to maintain order at Olympics venues.