Salt Lake City Prepares for Protests at Winter Olympics

December 29, 2001

SPORTS

Salt Lake City Prepares for Protests at Winter Olympics

By MICHAEL JANOFSKY

SALT LAKE CITY, Dec. 28 — As if terrorists were not enough to worry
about, officials planning for the Winter Olympics here in February are
bracing for another headache: protesters, and more than ever before.

In the 17 days of competition, visitors are likely to hear about rights
for the disabled, animal rights, gay rights, human rights, abortion,
polygamy, homelessness, poverty, prison reform, sentencing guidelines,
wilderness programs, various religions and a local incinerator.

So many groups have expressed interest in spreading their messages around
Salt Lake City that Olympics organizers have created official protest
zones for the first time.

Still, the authorities say they are not so worried about groups that have
city permits to demonstrate in seven official protest zones at the edge
of Olympic events. Security plans, already intense because of the Sept.
11 attacks, call for those areas to be watched and guarded so the
demonstrations will not disrupt athletic events or spectator enjoyment.

Rather, with memories of violence at recent World Trade Organization
meetings in Seattle and in Genoa, Italy, officials of Salt Lake City and
the Winter Olympics say they worry more about groups that have no
interest in peaceful discourse.

"I don't think we face much risk from anybody who has applied for a
permit," Mayor Ross C. Anderson, said in an interview today. "But
anarchists in general don't apply for permits. They just show up to
disrupt and destroy. If they do, they will be stopped."

For reasons not entirely clear, the Winter Olympics here seem to be
drawing more groups eager to take their messages to a large international
audience and several thousand journalists than past Games attracted.

Mike Moran, a spokesman for the United States Olympic Committee, said
none of the three most recent Olympics in the United States — at Lake
Placid in 1980, in Los Angeles in 1984 and in Atlanta in 1996 — generated
much political protest. Aside from the bombing in Atlanta, a crime that
has not been solved, organized demonstrations "were minimal and caused no
disruption whatsoever," Mr. Moran said.

He added that he knew of no Olympic organizing committee in the last two
decades, foreign or domestic, that had designated protest zones.

At least four organizations have been granted permits to protest in Salt
Lake City, and several others have applied for permits. But the local
authorities say other groups could show up unannounced.

When the Utah chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union invited
groups to a meeting last year to discuss protest plans and First
Amendment issues, 54 people from 30 groups attended.

"I think it is a function of our times," Mayor Anderson, a Democrat,
said. "If they had had Olympic Games in this country in the late 1960's
and early 1970's during the Vietnam War, there would have been major
demonstrations. Today, there is a renewed sense of political activism in
this country, and most of it is very healthy."

Mitt Romney, president of the organizing committee, said: "Any time there
is a large stage with many television cameras, people want to express
their opinions. That's America. But just as we're not busing the homeless
out of Salt Lake City, we're not asking protesters to leave town. We want
to make them part of the Olympic experience but at the same time not take
away from the moment athletes have prepared their whole life for."

For now, Mr. Anderson said, the biggest concern is the possibility that
the black-hooded anarchists who fought the police and looted at the
recent world trade meetings will turn up. He said that in enhancing
security plans immensely since Sept. 11, law enforcement agencies warned
groups to be wary of outsiders who would use them for political cover.

"We're doing everything we can to inform those who will be here lawfully
of the possibility they might be infiltrated," Mr. Anderson said. "If
they are not aware, they're putting their own safety at risk."

In the months before opening ceremonies on Feb. 8, animal rights
supporters have been among the most vocal of potential protesters. With
help from a national organization, People for the Ethical Treatment of
Animals, a local group, the Utah Animal Rights Coalition, has been
campaigning to stop a rodeo scheduled as an Olympic cultural event.
Coalition members especially object to calf roping as unnecessarily
cruel.

"We're planning a massive protest," said Sean Diener, the coalition's
executive director, who declined to discuss the details other than to say
that activities could include "civil disobedience, media stunts and lots
of picketing."

Other organizations are considering perhaps less animated activities. A
group known as Justice, Economic Dignity and Independence, which works
for the poor and homeless, is organizing a march near the stadium where
the opening ceremonies will be held. Members of Tapestry Against
Polygamy, a group that fights plural marriages, are planning to
distribute fliers and be available for interviews.

A group opposed to the commercialization of the Olympics, the Citizens
Action Network, is planning a mock torch run with runners weighed down by
sponsor products.

Stephen Clark, legal director of the Utah chapter of the civil liberties
union, which worked closely with the city and organizers to create the
protest zones, applauded efforts to protect free speech, even if they do
restrict activities to certain areas.

"I think their efforts have been genuine," Mr. Clark said of Mr. Anderson
and Olympic officials.

He added that "it would be hard to convince a judge that the efforts by
the city are not reasonable."