The Olympics are expensive and expensive exercise, not just in terms of time and money, but also in terms of human misery.
That at least is the view of of the Geneva based Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions (COHRE), which has stated that some 1.5 million residents of Beijing will be displaced by the time it hosts the 2008 Olympics; many evicted against their will.
COHRE claims that residents are often forced from their homes with little notice and little compensation, as the Chinese government embarks on a massive city redevelopment to accommodate the Games.
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"In Beijing, and in China more generally, the process of demolition and eviction is characterised by arbitrariness and lack of due process."
China's Foreign Ministry said it was groundless and the figures vastly inflated.
Spokeswoman Jiang Yu said 6,037 people had been displaced since 2002 for the construction of Olympic stadiums.
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"During the process, the citizens have had their compensation property settled. No single person was forced to move out of Beijing."
COHRE should be aware that China is embarking on a period of unprecedented growth and economic development, the Games are merely the catalyst for the upheavals to come.
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