By Ian Ransom
BEIJING (Reuters) - Unwashed, unfed and lacking sleep, tensof thousands of Chinese shouted, pushed and shoved for theirlast chance at Olympic tickets on a hot and smoggy Friday,threatening to break through heavy police cordons.
Ticket hopefuls and security officials screamed back andforth as tempers flared just two weeks before the Beijing Gamesbegin on August 8.
Loudspeakers blared over and over, telling people to queuepatiently as minor scuffles broke out in the crowd and betweenreporters and police who struggled to keep order.
Hong Kong television showed police shoving reporters asthey tried to clear an area near the ticket booths.
Police detained a photographer from the South China MorningPost, the Hong Kong-based newspaper said, and destroyedreporters' cameras and equipment.
"The Hong Kong reporter, surnamed Wong, did not obey policeorders and broke through temporary barricades to take photos,"Xinhua news agency quoted an unnamed spokesman from the Beijingmunicipal government information office as saying.
Wong had kicked a police officer in the groin, Xinhua said,citing the spokesman.
A reporter at the newspaper said Wong had been releasedunharmed.
A police spokesman estimated the crowd at more than 40,000,and said officials were doing everything they could "to keepthe situation calm".
Even before dawn broke, some people tried to charge thegate, prompting a swift response from officials, witnessessaid.
Police ejected a number of people from the queue for beingtoo pushy and detained at least one other.
Prospective buyers have been limited to two tickets at thesame competition, but officials have promised the last trancheholds tickets for events at every venue, if not every event.
SHOWPIECE STADIUMS
Many want tickets for an event in the National Stadium,dubbed the Bird's Nest, or the Water Cube, the two showpiecestadiums that have changed Beijing's landscape.
Tickets for a raft of events had already sold out at boothsaround the city by 4:00 p.m. (9 a.m. British time), includingpopular diving and football competitions, the BeijingOrganising Committee for the Olympic Games (BOCOG) said in astatement on its website.
One man surnamed Lei, from the eastern province of Anhui,was rewarded for his two-day wait in line with tickets to thefinal of the 110 m hurdles.
"I just feel so lucky to be able to see Liu Xiang run atthe Olympics," said Lei, 24, referring to the Chinese hero anddefending champion.
"It's been tough, it's very hot, but it's worth it toparticipate in the Olympics," said Wang Zongmao, 73, who alsoqueued for two days to secure tickets to a diving event.
Long queues had already formed by Wednesday afternoon, aday after Olympic organisers announced the final tranche of820,000 tickets would go on sale.
By Thursday, 10,000 people had formed a line snakinghundreds of metres away from the booth that opened on Friday,many hunkering down inside tents or under umbrellas to shelterfrom the 35 degree Celsius (95 degrees Fahrenheit) heat.
Police threw bottles of water into the crowd, dozens ofambulances stood by to come to the aid of those in line, andthe hundreds of police and paramilitary People's Armed Policepersonnel were also feeling the strain.
Tickets for the Games range in price from 5,000 yuan (369pounds) for the opening ceremony to just 30 yuan for thesoftball preliminaries.
Beijing's sale of the 7 million-plus Olympic tickets onoffer has been swift, but not without incident. Prospectivebuyers complained on blogs and chat-rooms of not being able tocomplete purchases after the third batch of tickets wasreleased in May.
The former Olympic ticketing chief was sacked last Novemberafter the ticketing website crashed on the opening day of thesecond round of sales.
Authorities are also going after scalpers. The Beijing Newssaid 44 had been detained, including one who had been selling50 yuan tickets for a basketball match for 5,000 yuan.
(Writing by Lindsay Beck; Editing by Nick Macfie and AlexRichardson)
(For more stories visit our multimedia website "Road toBeijing" at http://www.reuters.com/news/sports/2008olympics;and see our blog at http://blogs.reuters.com/china )