Another example (and they are multiplying) of pre-Olympic nerves on the part of the authorities. They want a squeaky clean city (although the numerous brothels around town show no sign of being closed down). Last Friday night, the police here launched a sudden raid on Sanlitun bar street, the most popular hangout for a cosmopolitain mix of expatriate youth (some very young kids from the international schools) and backpackers, and a number of drug dealers. A young man who was there described exiting a pub only to find himself in the middle of a police cordon, manned by a SWAT team (they had jackets saying so) with fierce dogs and what appeared to be guns. This young man described the police detaining African young men, who have a reputation as drug dealers in the area, and removing them in vans. Also removed were some Chinese managers of pubs which are suspected of hosting drug dealing operations. Other young expatriates were forced onto the ground, and guns were waved around (although it's not clear that anyone had a gun pointed directly at them). Those who protested and tried to get away were beaten back to the ground by crowds of police. One young expatriate who tried to get away was shoved into a van, into which police then climbed and 'the van rocked to and fro'. The Telegraph's Richard Spencer has spoken to the parents of some of the expatriate youths involved, and reports that several of them were taken away by police with their heads covered in plastic bags, and were made to take urine tests. The police have confirmed that several expatriates were detained, and that drugs of various descriptions were discovered during their raid. Sanlitun may indeed be a little more respectable after this raid, but the authorities should surely, at a time when China's reputation hangs so vulnerably in the balance, be putting just as much effort into winning hearts and minds internationally.