'Thousands' moved for China Games

Just under 15,000 people have been moved from their homes to make way for Olympic venues, the organisers of the Beijing Olympics say.

Beijing's Municipal Construction Committee said 14,901 people from 6,307 households had been moved.

The figures differ dramatically from those provided last year by an international campaign group.

The Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions (COHRE) said 1.25m people had been displaced ahead of the Games.

Zhang Jiaming, of the Municipal Construction Committee, said everyone who was relocated did so voluntarily.

Mr Zhang's figures are strikingly precise, but the discrepancies can be explained.

Beijing's numbers refer exclusively to people who have had to move to make way for Olympic venues - and nothing more.

The figures from the COHRE include everyone who has had to make way for new building work designed to make Beijing a more modern city for the Olympic Games.

So, for example, the centre would count people who have been made to leave their homes to make way for a new skyscraper - but Beijing would not.

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