Activists play parallel Beijing games

By Mure Dickie in Beijing

Thursday, August 07, 2008
http://www.ftchinese.com/sc/story_english.jsp?id=001021084&loc=story

The Beijing Olympics do not formally open until tomorrow but a parallel competition between international activists and Chinese authorities began yesterday.

Demonstrations against Chinese rule in Tibet, its national policy on population control and the use of animal fur underscored campaigners' determination to use the “Protest Games” to win publicity.

In one dramatic stunt, four activists from Britain and the US hung banners calling for freedom for Tibet from two street-lamps towering over the Olympic Green.

“We did this action today to highlight the Chinese government's use of the Beijing Olympics for whitewashing [its] human rights record,” said Ian Thom, a member of the group Students for a Free Tibet, in a recorded phone call from “30 or 40 metres” up one of the lampposts. “Now is a really critical time for Tibet,” said Mr Thom in the call, which was released online on the Free Tibet 2008 website. Mr Thom was later detained by police “for investigation”, the Xinhua news agency said.

Separately, three US Christian campaigners shouted slogans denouncing China's population control policy on Tiananmen Square, just hours after a huge Olympic torch relay rally was held in the politically sensitive area. The three were hustled away by police but later released, said Reuters news agency.

Amanda Beard, a US 2004 Olympics swimming gold medallist hoping to repeat her success, unveiled an anti-fur poster featuring a nude photograph of herself at an impromptu event outside the athletes' village after police banned a planned press conference in a Beijing hotel.

China has sought to limit opportunities for critics and campaigners to demonstrate during the games in part by dramatically tightening policies on visa issuance and by barring known activists.

Joey Cheek, the winter Olympic gold medallist founder of a group of athletes seeking to draw attention to the conflict in Sudan's Darfur region, said his visa to China had been revoked this week.

Jill Savitt, executive director of Dream for Darfur, another campaign group, said her application for a visa had been rejected.

Such moves have not silenced the critics. Dream for Darfur is to hold an online “alternative opening ceremony” tomorrow,followed by a daily webcast by the actress Mia Farrow from a Darfur refugee camp.

The impact of such demonstrations on China's international image will depend in part on how the authorities respond. While Chinese police sometimes deal roughly with domestic protesters, the authorities are keen to avoid any on-camera violence during the games.

Domestic state media largely ignored yesterday's protests, with Xinhua's report on the Tibet activists released only on its English-language service.

However, further demonstrations could trigger angry responses from Beijing residents, with nationalist sentiment running high among the many Chinese people who saw disruption of the international Olympic torch relay as a sign of foreign hostility.

A translation of Xinhua's report on the “Free Tibet” activists that was posted on a local website prompted harsh comments from internet users. “Drag them out and shoot them,” wrote one poster. “Castrate the men and cut off the breasts of the women,” wrote another.