Gaddafi took my seat! British give Libya hundreds of Olympic tickets (with update)

The London Olympic Committee is assuring outraged British citizens that Col. Muammar Gaddafi and his son are banned from attending the London Olympics, despite the fact that Libya was today given their allocation of “a few hundred” Olympic tickets.

But while the Gaddafis may be under UN travel restrictions, it is Col. Gaddafi’s son, Muhammad al-Gaddafi, head of Libya’s Olympic committee, who will hand out the tickets.

Thousands of Brits who have been denied tickets are, as one might guess, unamused. From the London Daily Mail comments section:

So they get a few hundred tickets to hand out and our swimmers get one ticket each for family members…? Seb Coe — who has come across as really arrogant when faced with any criticism — and his committee has got this horribly wrong. Instead of looking into how the seats would be sold and attempting to solve the problem before the public could buy them, he was too busy protecting the future of his precious running track and attempting to get everyone to give the stadium to the now relegated West Ham. Some legacy… As usual it’s been a shambles from start to finish. What odds can I get on someone dropping the torch while going up the stairs to light the Olympic flame? — Tony, London, 15/6/2011 12:58

Hopefully they’ll assign people loyal to Gaddafi into separate sections from the Libyan freedom fighters.

IOC President Jacques Rogge apparently sees no harm in inviting Gaddafi’s son.

At the SportAccord conference in London in April, he said: “At no point have we had any complaint of misbehaviour or bad conduct about the son of Mr. Gaddafi.” The IOC would do all it could to facilitate the involvement of Libyan athletes in the Games, Rogge said.

Gaddafi will be seated in the exclusive Dictators Luxury Box, which includes a small water cannon to spray random people in the stands when the dictator is in a controlling mood.

UPDATE: The IOC now says that no tickets have yet been given to Libya.

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Don’t expect Gaddafi at the Games! Outrage as Libya are handed share of 2012 tickets… after a million Brits lose out [London Daily Mail]