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Samaranch, the IOC's head of the coordination commission for the
Beijing Olympics starting on Feb. 4, said the Games were only
about unity.
Despite his observation, human rights activists protested in
Athens on Sunday ahead of Monday's torch-lighting ceremony for
the Games in ancient Olympia.
Two of the activists, who unfurled a Tibetan flag and a banner
reading "Free Hong Kong - Revolution" from Athens' Acropolis,
were arrested on Sunday morning.
The IOC is also facing criticism for awarding China two Olympics
-- the 2008 summer Games as well as next year's winter edition
-- with human rights groups saying no improvements have been
made in the 14 years.
"Everybody has the right, is entitled to their ideas, their
positions and their principles," Samaranch, who is the son of
the former IOC president with the same name, told Reuters in an
interview in ancient Olympia on Sunday.
"We cannot comment on those protests. There were some protests
today in Athens. We are here in ancient Olympia for a very
important thing, getting everybody together.
"Tomorrow with the lighting of the Olympic fire it is the start
of this gathering. People might agree or disagree on a number of
things but the Olympics are about trying to unite everybody."
The Chinese capital will become the first city to host both the
Winter and Summer Games when it stages the Feb. 4-20 event but,
as was the case with the 2008 Beijing Olympics, protests and
calls for boycotts over the country's human rights record have
marred the run-up.
Rights groups and some U.S. lawmakers have called on the IOC to
relocate the event unless China ends what the United States
deems ongoing genocide against Uyghurs and other Muslim minority
groups.
Chinese authorities have been accused of facilitating forced
labour by detaining around a million Uyghurs and other primarily
Muslim minorities in camps since 2016. China denies wrongdoing,
saying it has set up vocational training centres to combat
extremism.
FOREIGN FANS
Apart from protests, the Beijing Games are also having to deal
with the COVID-19 pandemic. However, unlike this year's
rescheduled Tokyo 2020 Games, which banned all fans due to the
pandemic, local fans will be allowed to attend the Beijing
Games.
Samaranch said while China had also banned any international
visitors from attending the Games, he still hoped to have a
large number of foreign fans in the venues in February, as long
as they were residents of China.
"Local spectators will be at the stands. Local means not only
Chinese, it means even a lot of international residents that
will cheer for their home teams," the Spaniard said.
"We have the agreement with the organising committee that it
would be something desirable to have more internal flags, more
variety of spectators, and we are working very much in that
line."
(Reporting by Karolos Grohmann; Additional reporting by Iain
Axon, editing by Pritha Sarkar)
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