Beijing Olympic ticket queue gets violent
Violence broke out this morning among the more than 50,000 people who queued to grab the last batch of Olympic tickets on sale in Beijing, as police struggled to control the fans.
The mood was tense and strained as angry people - some of whom had been queuing for two days - jostled to maintain or improve their place in the long line.
At one point the surging crowd broke through a control barrier and lurched towards the ticket counters.
In hot and dusty conditions, some groups in the crowd chanted insults at the police who were seen dragging people out of the line and kicking and punching them before leading them away.
It was the last chance for Chinese to buy tickets for the Games, with 250,000 on sale at several locations in Beijing this morning for events including athletics, diving, and gymnastics.
Demand was so high that more than 10,000 people were in the line by Thursday at one of the main ticket selling centres near the Olympic Stadium.
By early Friday huge reinforcements of police were moved in to maintain order as numbers ballooned to between 40,000 and 50,000.
Altogether around 7m tickets were up for sale for the Games, with around 75% going to China's domestic audience, with the rest made available overseas through each country's National Olympic Committee.
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