Wednesday, August 06, 2008

From Bad to Worse

Oh man, this is really going to suck.

Other protests today included a low-key demonstration by three Americans who stood in Tiananmen Square - well after the torch had passed through - to shout a denunciation of China’s population control policies. Police allowed them to leave the area after questioning them briefly.

Journalists received messages summoning them to two hotel rooms in Beijing containing dummies splattered with red paint. The walls had been defaced with slogans including: “One World, Our Nightmare” - a play on the Olympic “One World, One Dream” message - and a list of jailed dissidents. It was not clear who carried out the protest.

The US swimmer Amanda Beard, an Athens 2004 gold medallist, unveiled an anti-fur advert outside the Olympic village after the authorities prevented her from her staging a news conference in a hotel for “safety” reasons.

The government has designated zones for protest in parks around the city, but human rights campaigners warn that Chinese citizens will be deterred from taking part by the fear of reprisals and several groups have already been denied permits.

Other activists have been unable to enter the country. Team Darfur, a coalition of athletes seeking to draw attention to the conflict in Sudan, said that Beijing yesterday revoked the visa of its co-founder and Olympic gold medallist Joey Cheek.

He called the decision “part of a systemic effort by the Chinese government to coerce and threaten athletes who are speaking out on behalf of the innocent people of Darfur”.

A few weeks from now all these foreign devils will be gone, and all of Beijing’s lao wei are going to take the heat.