An anti-Olympics protester gatecrashed a routine International Olympic Committee (IOC) online press conference on Wednesday.
He held up a black banner with ‘X’ signs and the words ‘Olympics in Tokyo’ and shouted ‘No Olympics anywhere . . . f*** the Olympics’
The protester, named as David O’Brien had registered as a media representative of Yahoo, and appeared during during question time at an online press conference, following Wednesday’s IOC board meeting.
IOC spokesman Mark Adams, standing in for IOC President Thomas Bach, cut off the protester’s online feed to the press conference
Adams maintained the official line that the Olympics will go ahead, commenting . . .
“We continue to plan for a full Games and that’s the way it has to be and that’s the only way it can be for us. Everything is telling us, from the test events to the international events, that the Games can go ahead and will go ahead.”
The organisation later deleted the video of the incident.
John Coates, the IOC’s vice-president, claimed that while Japanese sentiment about the Games ‘was a concern’, he could foresee no scenario under which the event, due to open on 23 July, would not go ahead.
Japan’s Prime Minister Suga Yoshihide has recently extended and expanded the coronavirus state of emergency covering Tokyo until the end of May.
Due to the extent of the emergency regulations, IOC President Thomas Bach has has postponed a visit to Hiroshima, Japan, to watch the passage of the Olympic Flame.
Related Post:
Tokyo Games – Coronavirus state of emergency extended and expanded
Tokyo Games Playbooks – Updated to address evolving situation of the pandemic