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Security forces make sweep of venues
SYDNEY, Australia (AP) -- The Olympic security clamp is closing on Sydney. Armed police with sniffer dogs and specialist searching equipment began sweeps through the main Olympic precinct Wednesday, searching for bombs and other contraband in preparation for a security "lockdown" of Olympic Park which comes into force on Friday. In the next two days specialist police and military search teams expect to look under every bleacher, check every nook and examine every cranny of the 760-hectare (1,877-acre) precinct before declaring it safe and sealing it off. From then on, access will be permitted only to properly accredited people, undergoing vehicle and bag searches and passing through magnetometers -- airport-style metal detectors. Similar searches will take place at all Games venues. Security will also be upgraded at other sites around Sydney, including parks and other public sites earmarked for games activities and suburbs adjacent to outdoor games venues. New South Wales state police commissioner Peter Ryan, who has responsibility for overall games security, acknowledged Wednesday that the measures were restrictive, but said they were "absolutely essential" for safety at the Sept. 15-Oct. 1 Olympics. "We have applied the most sophisticated security approach to these Olympic games ever, we have done all we can humanly possible to ensure there is a trouble free games," Ryan said. "But there is no guarantees at all when it comes to terrorism or people who want to create mischief." In leafy Rushcutters By, a plush harborside suburb in Sydney's inner-east where the Olympic sailing events will be based, motorists have been subject to searches by teams of police since early his week. At any given time, up to 11,000 police, military and private security guards will be patrolling Olympic venues, Ryan said. In addition, 10,000 state police will be assigned or available for general patrols around Sydney. "If there is an Olympic venue or an Olympic-related site, you will see intense police activity," from now until the end of the games, Ryan said. Meanwhile, army chief Lt.-Gen. Peter Cosgrove Wednesday defended new laws which some legislators claim for the first time empower the federal government to deploy troops domestically. Law and order is usually exclusively handled by Australia's various state police forces. Cosgrove said the new laws simply clarify procedures already in existence, and which would only be applied in extreme circumstances. "These are very rare circumstances where, for sake of argument, a highly capable terrorist outfit prosecuted some dastardly act upon our sovereign territory which temporarily was beyond the capabilities of the police to deal with," Cosgrove said.
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