Majority of pavilions to keep bypass line
- Source: Global Times
- [09:09 June 04 2010]
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Visitors line up at the special queue in front of the Italy Pavilion Thursday. Photo: Ni danan
By Ni Dandan
Popular pavilions inside the Expo Park including ones from Spain and Austria have Thursday vetoed plans to close down their special bypass lines after the Sweden Pavilion stopped its passage designated for people with a disability, the elderly and young kids, due to some visitors causing chaos at their doors.
Since coming to a halt on Monday, operations of the passage meant to give certain groups easier access to the Sweden Pavilion remain suspended Thursday, after a Swedish staff member was pushed down an escalator due to an impatient visitor - accompanying a person with a disability - who shoved his way through the special line to get in.
"We are not closing the special passage," Débora Altit, a public relations officer for the Spain Pavilion, told the Global Times Thursday. "We think that would only impose greater in-conveniences for those really in need."
The issue of special bypass for a designated group of visitors has come under scrutiny after several visitors have been wrongly squeezing into the lines in order to cut down their waiting times. Some have been faking a disability while others have been breaking the rules adopted by many pavilions, which permit no more than two visitors to accompany a person with a disability, those over 70, or young children.
Meanwhile, the Sweden Pavilion said that although its staff suffered no real injury from the incident, it is refusing to reopen the bypass line until organizers standardize rules on the issue for all pavilions.
"We do not want to take unnecessary risk," Bei Yunyun, communications manager of the Sweden Pavilion, told the Global Times Thursday. "We have put up with the problem for some time now; the incident that took place last week was not the first of such accidents."
Bei added that a group of eight visitors wrongly tried to get into the pavilion using the special line, claiming that all of them could not be separated as they were related to the one person in a wheelchair.
"We will keep the special line closed for as long as it takes to ensure the safety of our staff and other visitors inside our pavilion," she said.
With Hong Hao, director of the Shanghai World Expo Coordination Bureau, earlier this week vowing that organizers are working on a unified plan to get the situation under control, local government insiders are warning that such action needs to be taken soon.
The authorities are worried that the problem, if not resolved quickly, will tarnish the reputation of the city's handling of the six-month event, according to a municipal government official who Thursday spoke to the Global Times on the condition of anonymity.
"The issue has spawned a negative response from the public," he said. "If there is no improvement in the situation soon, we may not be able to rule out the possibility of closing the special passages at all pavilions inside the park."
