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China Displays Police Muscle Near Hong Kong Before Weekend Rallies

Associated Press

   SHENZHEN, CHINA - Members of China's paramilitary People's Armed Police
   marched and practiced crowd control tactics at a sports complex in
   Shenzhen across from Hong Kong in what some interpreted as a threat
   against pro-democracy protesters in the semi-autonomous territory.

   The sound of marching boots and synchronized shouts echoed from the
   grounds Friday. Officers in green camouflage stood guard at closed
   entrances. A stadium security guard said "it wasn't clear" when the
   paramilitary police would leave the grounds.

   Chinese state media have said only that the Shenzhen exercises were
   planned earlier and were not directly related to the unrest in Hong
   Kong, though they came shortly after the central government in Beijing
   said the protests were beginning to show the "sprouts of terrorism."

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