Beijing's senior Olympic organiser hit back at criticism about China's treatment of citizens seeking to protest during the Olympics, saying the country could not allow a descent into “chaos”.

Wang Wei, executive director of the Beijing games organising committee, said the games were helping China to open up and accused some people of coming to Beijing with the deliberate intention of criticising the regime.

Bocog and the International Olympic Committee came in for a barrage of questions at this morning's press conference about the detention of Chinese citizens wanting to apply for officially-sanctioned permits to stage protests in public parks.

IOC spokesperson Giselle Davies, repeatedly asked whether the IOC was embarrassed about China not fulfilling its promises for greater freedoms when it was awarded the games, deflected the question, saying its role and remit was to bring sport and the Olympics to China.

Unprompted, Mr Wang launched into a robust and impassioned defence of China's handling of protests, saying after 30 years of reform people had more freedom, more say and improved welfare and economic prospects.

“Some people are upset, that is true, but they need to make the legal process and procedures to solve them,” Mr Wang said. “We cannot take the country into chaos.”

He added that China welcomed people from abroad to celebrate and enjoy the games, but added: “A very few people come here to kick, to be critical, to dig into the small details, and to find fault. That doesn't mean we are not fulfilling our promises all over the country.”

The ordinary Chinese on the streets would agree that China was stepping forward, said Mr Wang. “You want to be critical,” he told journalists, “but you have to believe the majority of the people, otherwise you are quite misled.”

Mr Wang said Bocog, which is an arm of the Beijing government, was still waiting for information from other authorities about the number of people that had filed applications to use the protest parks.

Mr Wang's comments were edited out of the official transcript of the press conference before it was published on the internet.

Ms Davies did criticise the treatment on the 13 Aug of an accredited British journalist, who was roughly handled and detained by police while covering a pro-Tibet protest.

“The IOC does disapprove of any attempts to hinder a journalist going about trying to do his job within rules and regulations. We don't want to see it happen again,” she said.