Chinese elite anti-terror police officers are wheeling into action ahead of next month’s Beijing Olympics on two-wheeled scooters.
Members of the country’s armed police unit practised on the Segway models that have been re-named ‘Anti-Terror Assault Vehicles’ in the eastern province of Shandong.
Officials have bought 100 Segways and painted some in military camouflage to patrol airports and sporting venues during the Games.
In one drill, police posing as terrorists held ten badminton audience members hostage, ‘shooting dead’ four ‘hijackers’, capturing two and defusing a mock car bomb.
The exercise was to test the province’s emergency response and involved 1,500 people.
The Segway was the brainchild of American Dean Kamen, who claimed at its 2001 launch that it would make the car obsolete in congested cities. It has since been the object of some derision, however.
The two-wheeled self-balancing machine – powered by an electric motor – allows users to travel as fast as 12.5mph while standing up.
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