The Olympic Security Breach Tally lists the latest protests, security breaches, obstructions, and incidents at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.
{xtypo_sticky}PROTEST: Five American activists display a “Free Tibet” banner near an Olympic venue in Beijing. US graffiti artist, James Powderly, was to project “Free Tibet” and other messages on buildings, using lasers.
CHINESE AUTHORITIES' REACTION: Chinese officals detained all five activists as well as the graffiti artist, giving no reason other than they did not know that the protest happened.
LOCATION: Beijing
DATE: August 19, 2008{/xtypo_sticky}
{xtypo_alert}OBSTRUCTION: Wu Dianyuan, 79, and her neighbour Wang Xiuying, 77, applied to the Beijing Public Security Bureau to protest at one of the three protest zones about their forced eviction from, and the dismantling of their homes in 2001.
CHINESE AUTHORITIES REACTION: They were questioned for 10 hours and later received letters from Beijing’s Re-education Through Labour Commission, sentencing them to a labour camp for one year for “disturbing the public order”.
LOCATION: Beijing
DATE: August 17, 2008{/xtypo_alert}
[xtypo_info]EXPLOSION: Explosion at a White Temple road checkpoint, 50km from Bird’s Nest Stadium; 20 people sent to hospital.
CHINESE AUTHORITIES' REACTION: Refused to comment. Reports from eye witnesses have been removed from blog sites on China’s official search engine Baidu.
LOCATION: Beijing.
DATE: 17 August, 2008[/xtypo_info]
{xtypo_alert}OBSRUCTION : Wang Shixiang uses registered post to apply to protest at Zizhuyuan Park, one of the designated Olympic Protest Parks. Wang Shixiang and his associates intend to hand out fliers and chant slogans including “Protesting the Government’s persecution of the people”.
CHINESE AUTHORITIES' REACTION: At least 20 applicants have been arrested, repatriated back to their home town or detained after applying to protest in the designated areas. Two appellants, Dan Chun and Li Jingcheng, were arrested in the middle of the night.
LOCATION: Beijing
DATE: August 16{/xtypo_alert}
{xtypo_alert}OBSTRUCTION: Daily Olympic press briefing cancelled after reporters in Beijing had been aggressively questioning Chinese officials and IOC for several days about China’s human rights abuses, air quality, Tibet, Falun Gong, ticket scalpers, and Chinese audiences hissing at Japanese competitors, etc.
CHINESE AUTHORITIES‘ REACTION: Press conferences suspended for two days. A text message announcing the cancellation on Aug. 16 offered no explanation but ended with ’‘Enjoy the Games!’’
LOCATION: Beijing
DATE: 16 August, 2008{/xtypo_alert}
{xtypo_sticky}PROTEST: An Australian-Canadian, a British national and three American pro-Tibet human rights protesters scaled China’s Central TV (CCTV) station’s iconic new headquarters in Beijing’s Central Business District to unfurl a Free Tibet banner over an Olympic Games billboard.
CHINESE AUTHORITIES' REACTION: 30 minutes later the five were arrested and the banner removed. They were deported later in the day.
LOCATION: Beijing
DATE: 15 August, 2008{/xtypo_sticky}
[xtypo_info]EXPLOSION: Bomb detonated at Qinhuangdao economic and technological development zone, killing two.
CHINESE AUTHORITIES' REACTION: Refused to comment, then Chinese Olympic officials claim it was caused by “production activities.”
LOCATION: Qinhuangdao economic and technological development zone, near one of the Olympic football stadiums.
DATE: 13 August, 2008[/xtypo_info]
{xtypo_alert}OBSTRUCTION: John Ray, China correspondent for Independent Television News was knocked to the ground and dragged away from a pro-Tibet protest.
CHINESE AUTHORITIES' REACTION: He was detained for 20 minutes and his equipment bag was confiscated despite repeated protestations - in Chinese - that he was a journalist.
LOCATION: Beijing
DATE: 13 August, 2008{/xtypo_alert}
{xtypo_sticky}PROTEST: Several pro-Tibet activists stood behind a row of locked bicycles, blocking the entrance to the Olympic Village and hung a banner across a bridge that read ``Free Tibet.”
CHINESE AUTHORITIES' REACTION: Chinese police stopped the protest. A spokeswoman for China’s Public Security Ministry said she had no information to provide. Among the activists was Pema Yoko, 25, an ethnic-Tibetan Japanese woman whose whereabouts are currently unknown.
LOCATION: The Olympic Village
DATE: 13 August, 2008{/xtypo_sticky}
{xtypo_sticky}PROTEST: Five U.S. pro-Tibet protesters unveiled a pro-Tibet banner and yelled “Free Tibet” at the entrance to a northern Beijing park.
CHINESE AUTHORITIES’REACTION: Protesters where dragged away by Chinese security forces to an unknown location and later deported.
DATE: 12 August, 2008{/xtypo_sticky}
{xtypo_alert}OBSTRUCTION: Liu Zhenlu whose daughter died in the Sichuan earthquake applied for a protest permit to draw attention to shoddy construction practices.
CHINESE AUTHORITIES REACTION: Unknown. According to his wife he was missing from 5p.m. on August 11th to 3p.m. the following day. Once home he sat in silence and wouldn’t respond to his family’s questions about what happened.
LOCATION: Beijing
DATE: 12 August, 2008{/xtypo_alert}
{xtypo_sticky}PROTEST: Chinese activist Ji Sizun, 58, from Fujian province applied for permission to protest at the official protest site against corruption during the Olympic Games.
CHINESE AUTHORITIES' REACTION: He disappeared three days later when he went back to check on his application.
LOCATION: Deshengmenwai police station
DATE: 11 August, 2008{/xtypo_sticky}
{xtypo_alert}OBSTRUCTION: Foreign journalists in Beijing actively seeking out information about Falun Gong practitioners detained in camps near Olympic venues are being given the run-around, as the Chinese regime tries to cover its tracks.
CHINESE AUTHORITIES' REACTION: Chinese authorities are secretly moving Falun Gong practitioners out of Beijing-area labor camps and detention centers to prepare for potential visits by foreign media. Those moved out of Beijing are being replaced with individuals who claim to have renounced Falun Gong, and who are prepared to repeat the regime’s line on Falun Gong to western press.
LOCATION: Beijing
DATE: 11 August, 2008 {/xtypo_alert}
{xtypo_alert}OBSTRUCTION: Leaders of a Taiwanese team, Ms Yang Hui-ru and Lee Kun-lin, were refused entry to China even though they had the correct documentation
CHINESE AUTHORITIES' REACTION: They were immediately deported after their personal belongings were inspected and a cell phone confiscated.
LOCATION: Beijing Airport
DATE: 10 August, 2008{/xtypo_alert}
{xtypo_sticky}PROTEST: Five Tibetan activists from New York, Germany and Canada were arrested following a demonstration in Tiananmen Square. The protest included a staged “die-off”, in which demonstrators fell to the ground to symbolize Tibetans killed by the Chinese Communist regime, one protester draping himself with the Tibetan flag.
CHINESE AUTHORITIES' REACTION: The protestors were arrested and deported.
LOCATION: Tiananmen Square.
DATE: 9 August, 2008{/xtypo_sticky}
{xtypo_sticky}PROTEST: Member of the Legislative Council LeungG Kwok-hung wore an orange Hong Kong Alliance T-shirt, which represents: “One World, One Dream, One Human Rights”. He had to wear a top over the T-shirt in order to enter the venue. After the event finished, Leung and others
loudly yelled: “Vindication of June 4!” while others displayed the Tibetan flag.
CHINESE AUTHORITIES' REACTION: All protesters were carried away violently by security guards.
LOCATION: Hong Kong’s Olympics equestrian arena
DATE: 9 August, 2008{/xtypo_sticky}
{xtypo_sticky}PROTEST: Man stopped by security guard at the entrance to equestrian events for wearing a T-shirt with the slogan: “Democracy, Human Rights, Higher than Olympics”
CHINESE AUTHORITIES' REACTION: Had to change his T-shirt before being allowed entry.
LOCATION: Hong Kong’s Olympics equestrian arena
DATE: 9 August, 2008{/xtypo_sticky}
{xtypo_sticky}PROTEST: Democracy activist Gu Si-Yao, wears T-shirt with Reporters Without Borders depiction of Olympic rings as handcuffs.
CHINESE AUTHORITIES' REACTION: Had to wear the T-Shirt inside out before he was allowed to enter.
LOCATION: Hong Kong’s Olympics equestrian arena
DATE: 9 August, 2008{/xtypo_sticky}
{xtypo_sticky}PROTEST: Two students try to unveil a Tibetan flag at the dressage event.
CHINESE AUTHORITIES' REACTION: Officials rushed over and covered Ms Chan and her friend with a large blue cloth to prevent the Tibetan flag from being shown and photographed.
LOCATION: Hong Kong’s Olympics equestrian arena
DATE: 9 August, 2008{/xtypo_sticky}
[xtypo_info]KILLED: American Todd Bachman was attacked and killed; his wife Barbara and their Chinese tour guide critically injured. The Bachmans are the parents of Olympian Elisabeth “Wiz” Bachman a member of the 2004 U.S. women’s Olympic volleyball team.
CHINESE AUTHORITIES' REACTION: Tighten up security (sic).
LOCATION: Drum Tower, Beijing
DATE: 9 August, 2008[/xtypo_info]
{xtypo_sticky}PROTEST: Sudanese-born runner and member of Team Darfur, Lopez Lomong was chosen to carry the U.S. flag in the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics, adding weight to U.S. President George W. Bush’ statement “America stands in firm opposition to China’s detention of political dissidents, human rights advocates and religious activists.”
CHINESE AUTHORITIES' REACTION: Unknown
LOCATION: Beijing Olympic stadium
DATE: 8 August, 2008{/xtypo_sticky}
{xtypo_sticky}PROTEST: Three US citizens unfurled a Tibetan flag an hour before opening ceremony started. Jonathan Stribling-Uss, Kalaya’an Mendoza, and Cesar Pablo Maxit, each pulled out T-shirts saying “Team Tibet 08” and each also displayed the Tibetan flag.
CHINESE AUTHORITIES' REACTION: Deported all three.
LOCATION: Beijing Olympic stadium
DATE: 8 August, 2008{/xtypo_sticky}
{xtypo_alert}OBSTRUCTION: Dutch reporter Henk van der Sluis was removed from a district in Beijing where he was going to watch the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games on television with ordinary Chinese people.
CHINESE AUTHORITIES' REACTION: Before he had entered the house a uniformed man appeared with an employee of the organisation committee that urged him to leave the district, saying they could not guarantee his safety.
LOCATION: Beijing area
DATE: 8 August, 2008{/xtypo_alert}
{xtypo_sticky}PROTEST: Reporters Without Borders hacked into Chinese airwaves to broadcast a 20-minute radio broadcast that called for the end of media censorship and the release of imprisoned dissidents in China. The programme was in Chinese, English and French played at 8:08 am (Beijing local time)—exactly 12 hours before the opening ceremony in Beijing.
CHINESE AUTHORITIES' REACTION: Unknown
LOCATION: Chinese airwaves
DATE: 8 August, 2008{/xtypo_sticky}
{xtypo_alert}OBSTRUCTION: Two Associated Press reporters were prevented from taking photos. One journalist was arrested while watching the opening ceremony and two Scandinavian reporters were prevented from interviewing peasants on what impact the games has had on their lives
CHINESE AUTHORITIES REACTION: Cameras seized and photos erased. Reporter arrested
LOCATION: Various
DATE: 7 August, 2008{/xtypo_alert}
{xtypo_sticky}PROTEST: At the Traders Hotel and Novotel Peace Hotel, rooms were painted with the word “release” on the wall along with the names of five dissidents, including Hu Jia, and imprisoned house church leader Rev Zhang Rongliang.
CHINESE AUTHORITIES' REACTION: Unknown
LOCATION: Beijing
DATE: 7 August, 2008{/xtypo_sticky}
{xtypo_sticky}PROTEST: More than 40 Olympic athletes competing in Beijing signed a petition to Chinese President Hu Jintao, urging China to peacefully settle contention over Tibet and protect freedom of religion and opinion. The Games participants are among 127 international athletes reported to be asking Hu to “enable a peaceful solution for the issue of Tibet and other conflicts in your country with respect to fundamental principles of human rights.”
CHINESE AUTHORITIES' REACTION: Unknown
LOCATION: Beijing
DATE: 7 August, 2008{/xtypo_sticky}
{xtypo_sticky}PROTEST: American swimmer Amanda Beard was the first Olympic athlete to use the Beijing games to stage a protest, unveiling a nude photo of herself as part of an anti-fur PETA campaign. The US glamour girl held a life-size poster of her new advertisement, which shows her kneeling naked in a pool of water with the slogan ‘Be comfortable in your own skin. Don’t wear fur’.
CHINESE AUTHORITIES' REACTION: Beard initially wanted to protest outside the Water Cube, the swimming venue, but was stopped by communist officials.
LOCATION: Outside Olympic Athlete’s Village
DATE: 6 August, 2008{/xtypo_sticky}
{xtypo_sticky}PROTEST: Two American and two British citizens scaled power poles near the heavily guarded Bird’s Nest Stadium and displayed Tibetan flags and banners declaring “One World, One Dream: Free Tibet” and “Tibet will be free”. One of the banners also said “Free Tibet” in Chinese. The two British protesters were Iain Thom and Lucy Marion and the two Americans were Phill Bartell and Tirian Mink.
CHINESE AUTHORITIES' REACTION: Detained then deported.
LOCATION: Tiananmen Square, Beijing
DATE: 6 August, 2008{/xtypo_sticky}
{xtypo_sticky}PROTEST: Three Christian Americans entered Tiananmen Square near the Mao Zedong Memorial Hall and shouted: “We have come here today to be a voice, for those who have no voice of their own. We are a voice for those of the Falun Gong practitioners.”
CHINESE AUTHORITIES' REACTION: Dragged away, detained, cell phones disabled, threatened with lengthy jail sentences. No outside communication for 24 hours. Eventually, Chinese authorities put the three Americans on an Air China flight back to Los Angeles with only a plastic bag of personal items. The rest of their luggage remains in China.
LOCATION: Tiananmen Square
DATE: 6 August, 2008{/xtypo_sticky}
{xtypo_sticky}PROTEST: Eight Dutch Christians attempt to organise a chorus and sing.
CHINESE AUTHORITIES' REACTION: Immediately driven away by regime authorities who arrived at the scene.
LOCATION: Tiananmen Square, Beijing
DATE: 6 August, 2008{/xtypo_sticky}
[xtypo_info]EXPLOSION: Bomb discovered beneath a seat at a Qinhuangdao Stadium – the site of 12 Olympic football matches – apparently placed there after the official security check was completed.
CHINESE AUTHORITIES' REACTION: Not reported
LOCATION: Qinhuangdao Stadium.
DATE: 4 August, 2008[/xtypo_info]
{xtypo_sticky}PROTEST: Chinese people, including Liu Xueli, protest for lack of compensation when their homes were destroyed to make way for development.
CHINESE AUTHORITIES' REACTION: Liu Xueli taken away and reports say he is in a forced labour camp.
LOCATION: south of Tiananmen Square
DATE: 4 August, 2008{/xtypo_sticky}
{xtypo_sticky}PROTEST: Six Shanghai residents travelled to Hong Kong to expose the evictions, beatings and persecution they have suffered under the Chinese regime.
CHINESE AUTHORITIES' REACTION: Unknown
LOCATION: Hong Kong
DATE: 2 August, 2008{/xtypo_sticky}
{xtypo_alert}OBSTRUCTION: Ge Yifei, a doctor from Suzhou, tried to apply to protest a property dispute.
CHINESE AUTHORITIES' REACTION: She was forcibly escorted to catch a train to leave Beijing.
LOCATION: Beijing
DATE: 2 August, 2008{/xtypo_alert}
