China warned on Thursday that unauthorised protests will not be tolerated during the Olympics next year, raising the prospect of detentions for civil rights campaigners and religious activists during the two-week event.
The warning came as the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Olympic truce resolution for the 2008 Beijing Games despite opposition from activists pushing for a free Tibet. The resolution calls on UN member states to ”observe and promote peace” at next August’s Games.
Beijing is shaping up to be the most controversial Olympics in more than 20 years. With 30 000 foreign journalists expected, the one-party state will come under the global spotlight as never before. A range of civic groups, Tibetan supporters, environmentalists and religious organisations see an opportunity to highlight human rights abuses in a country that normally clamps down hard on any organised criticism.
But the public security ministry said unauthorised protest would not be tolerated. ”Any group or individual who stages a gathering, parade, or demonstration during the Beijing Olympic Games period must respect Chinese law,” the ministry’s press officer Wu Heping said.
”As to those legal activities, police will protect them according to the law. As for those activities that are illegal, we police will handle them according to the law.”
History suggests this effectively means a ban. Applications for protests are almost never approved. The only two mass demonstrations tolerated in recent years have been nationalistic: anti-Japanese rallies in 2005 and anti-American protests in 1999.
The warning is unlikely to deter activists, who have taken heart from China’s recent moves to ease the tension in Darfur, following calls in the US for a boycott of the ”genocide Olympics” unless Beijing took action.
Campaigners for other causes hope for similar compromises. ”If pressure is ever to be brought to bear on China, it is in the run-up to the Olympics,” said Matt Whitticase of Free Tibet.
When Beijing was awarded the Games the head of the International Olympic Committee, Jacques Rogge, said he hoped the event would help to improve the human rights situation inside China.
But while living standards have made enormous gains since, the Communist party clamps down as hard as ever on any groups that challenge its authority.
According to Amnesty, dissidents and followers of the Falun Gong spiritual movement are frequently locked up and often tortured. China also jails more journalists than any other nation.
In August eight Tibetan activists, including two Britons, were detained for unfurling a banner at the Great Wall. Several journalists were held by police for covering a protest by the free-speech organisation, Reporters sans Frontières, near Tiananmen Square.
The IOC charter has forbidden any activism inside the venues during the Games since 1968, when sprinters Tommie Smith and John Carlos made a black power salute when receiving their medals.
The British Olympic Association has taken a hard line, warning United Kingdom athletes that they may be thrown off the team if they engage in political activities. – Guardian Unlimited Â