Athens lashes out at security critics

By Richard Galpin
BBC Athens correspondent

The head of the Athens Olympic organising committee has lashed out at countries and individuals that have questioned the ability of the Greek authorities to protect this summer's Olympic Games from a terrorist attack.

Gianna Angelopoulos criticised Australia for changing travel advice

Gianna Angelopoulos was speaking at the opening of a special conference in the Greek capital, attended by security officials from around the world.

The conference is aimed at reassuring the international community that athletes, officials, VIPs and spectators will all be safe.

With less than three months to go before the opening ceremony there's now much focus on the security plans for the Athens games.

The Greek security forces have been training for the worst possible scenarios, including a catastrophic terrorist attack using a weapon of mass destruction.

'Acutely sensitive'

Around 70,000 police, troops, coastguards and other emergency services will be guarding the country during the games, with help from Nato forces.

The security operation will be the biggest in the history of the Olympics.

Unnecessarily raising their anxiety levels with uninformed comments can only distract young men and women Gianna Angelopoulos, head of Olympic organising committee

But a small bomb attack in Athens by a local extremist group earlier this month has heightened worries around the world, even though no-one was injured.

The Greek authorities are now acutely sensitive to the questioning of their abilities.

In her opening speech at the conference, Mrs Angelopoulos bitterly criticised Australia.

In the wake of the Athens bombing, the Australian government upgraded its travel advice for Greece telling its citizens to exercise caution.

Tough questions

Mrs Angelopoulos warned all this was harming the Olympics and, in particular, the athletes themselves.

"Unnecessarily raising their anxiety levels with uninformed comments can only distract young men and women who may never again have an opportunity to compete in an Olympic Games," she said.

In his opening speech the Greek Minister of Public Order said his government could guarantee to the world the games would be safe.

Even so, delegates attending the conference who'll be responsible for the safety of their respective national Olympic teams as well as VIPs and officials, have already been asking some tough questions.

One important concern is that delays to the completion of Olympic venues means there's little time to install security equipment and test security procedures.