Beijing says 15,000 relocated for Olympic Games venues

Just under 15,000 people were moved from their homes to make way for the venues of the Beijing Olympics and all moved voluntarily with compensation, officials said yesterday, countering rights groups' allegations that hundreds of thousands had been evicted.

The Geneva-based Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions (COHRE) said last year that up to 1.5 million Beijingers would be evicted from their homes in the run-up to August's Games, often in a brutal and arbitrary manner with little compensation.

"Construction of the Beijing Olympic venues involves 14,901 persons of 6,307 households," Zhang Jiaming, vice-director of the Beijing Municipal Construction Committee, told a news conference at the basketball venue for the Games.

"The relocation projects enjoyed the support of residents involved. All the relocated households signed the relocation agreements and moved voluntarily; no one was forced out of their homes," he added.

Zhang was speaking specifically about those areas where the homes were replaced by venues, not the other areas of the city where thousands of people have been evicted to make way for the skyscrapers of the new business districts.

COHRE also included in its estimate those people shifted to make way for the $35-40 billion upgrade of the city's infrastructure in time for the Games.

All but one of the 31 venues for the Games have been completed and the National Stadium is scheduled to be handed over by the end of March.