China clamps down on protesters
2008-08-08 12:05
Beijing - Tiananmen Square was sealed off. Foreigners who protested in recent days arrived home after being deported, and Chinese who did the same were in custody.
Chinese authorities were on their highest alert on Friday in the final hours before the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics, guarding against anyone who might try to take the shine off the curtain raiser that would be watched worldwide.
The tight controls imposed by China's government have so far ensured the handful of protests in the host city have been small and relatively quiet. Such calm was not in evidence in other places.
In the Nepalese capital of Katmandu, hundreds of Tibetan exiles demonstrated outside the Chinese Embassy on Friday demanding an end to what they say is Beijing's brutal rule in their Himalayan homeland.
"China thief, leave our country. Stop killing in Tibet," the protesters chanted.
Police said they detained more than 400 people, many of them women, but that they would likely be freed later in the day.
In semi-autonomous Hong Kong, Briton Matt Pearce was detained after unfurling two banners on a major bridge. Wearing a mask of a horse's head and a white shirt bearing the Olympic rings, Pearce hung banners reading, "We want human rights and democracy" and "The people of China want freedom from oppression."
Hong Kong police said Pearce was being held for questioning on a possible charge of causing a public nuisance.
Big demonstrations
Activists were planning big demonstrations later on Friday in foreign capitals including London, Paris and Berlin. Rallies were held in Australia and planned in the Philippines and India.
The Beijing Games have become a focus for activists critical of China on issues ranging from its human rights record and heavy-handed rule in Tibet, to its abortion policies and repression of the Falun Gong spiritual movement.
Beijing considers the games, which it invested billions of dollars and seven years to prepare, a huge source of national pride and is doing all it can to make sure they go off without a hitch - such as ugly television images of protesters scuffling with police.
Authorities this week deported at least seven foreigners who protested at Tiananmen Square and near a major Olympic venue.
Three Americans - the Rev Patrick Mahoney, Brandi Swindell and Mike McMonagle - were sent back to Los Angeles after unfurling a banner reading "Jesus Christ is king" in the square for two consecutive days. They also criticised the government for forced abortions designed to control China's huge population and a deadly crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrations in 1989.
Another group of foreign activists was also deported to San Francisco and Frankfurt, Germany, on Thursday - a day after putting up "Free Tibet" banners on lamp poles outside the Beijing National Stadium.
A Chinese woman who protested at Tiananmen Square on Monday against her forced eviction from her house has been detained, her family said. Zhang Wei was among a group of angry residents who lost their traditional family compounds near the square to make way for the city's redevelopment.
Her son Mi Yu said Zhang called home on Thursday, confirming her detention. She did not elaborate because police officers were with her, Mi said. Police would not comment.
Tiananmen, at the heart of the Chinese government but also a powerful symbol of reform since the 1989 crackdown on protesters there, was sealed off ahead of the games' opening ceremony on Friday evening.
Trains did not stop at the two stations near the square, and police patrolled around the square and the adjacent Great Hall of the People, where President Hu Jintao hosted US President George W Bush and dozens of other leaders at a lunch before the Olympic celebrations.
- AP