China Works To Clear Country Of Protesters Day Before Olympics

On the same day that China condemned President Bush's speech on its human rights policies, the country tried to hide an undercurrent of protest ready to burst in the limelight of the Olympics.

Read below about the documented arrests and deportations that occurred yesterday:

From The Washington Post:

China's intense efforts to block any protest that would mar the Olympic Games were challenged Wednesday by foreign activists equally bent on diverting attention to issues as varied as Tibetan independence, the crisis in Darfur and religious freedom.

Two American and two British protesters slipped through a smothering Olympic security net, climbed a pair of lampposts and unfurled banners demanding freedom for Tibet near the new stadium where the Beijing Games are to open Friday night. In Tiananmen Square, three American Christian activists spoke out against China's rights record and protested its population control policies. The four pro-Tibet protesters have been deported, while a second demonstration by Christian activists on Thursday was disrupted when plainclothes police removed the protesters from Tiananmen Square.

The AP reports on more action by China to clear the country of protesters:

At least two women who have protested being evicted from their homes ahead of the Olympics were taken to a police station amid ramped up efforts by activists to use the games to spotlight their causes.

Zhang Wei and Ma Xiulan, who have been vocal about the pain of losing their family compounds near Tiananmen Square to make way for Olympic construction, were taken from their homes late Wednesday and early Thursday, according to Ma.

Also Thursday, a Hong Kong lawmaker said immigration officials deported three U.S.-based Chinese pro-democracy activists after denying them entry to the territory, which is hosting the Olympic equestrian events.

Comments

[berrycooda]

What would we do with protesters if B. Obama was going to make a speech and the KKK was making a huge protest...­.

Would we just let it happen. I don't think so.

Remember the serenity prayer.
God help me to accept the things I cannot change.
Courage to change the things I can...
And WISDOM to know the difference.

Some protests are useless and just cause agony for the people who do not start them.
Many people in Tibet were satisfied with their life, but protesters caused a lot of trouble for them.

[GarColga]

Ha! One of those protesters is Brandi Swindell from Boise Idaho. Only she's not a protester she's an activist gadfly, completely insincere and interested only in publicity.

[henrydavidthrow]

Those danged hard-line Communist Chinesers need Toby Keith to go over their and straighten 'em out.

[McLaren76]

Again, huffpo censors truth and the real voice of the people.

[McLaren76]

I watch the huffpo blogs often. I see every one bashing bush-mccain, which is fair, the past 8 years have been miserable. However, I never see how it is that O is gonna fix anything? I see no plan, I see lots of money being spent, but I really see just alot of talk and a pretty face, whose just as bought-off by lobbyists and bankers and corporations as the next candidate. Its really six of one half dozen of the other. My personal opinion; it will be close but Obama wont win. He just wont win. People, please, WAKE UP!

Rally for the Republic

[Economike]

I'm not really a sports fan but I don't see how anybody could enjoy being in this kind of environment.
It just seems like you'd be waiting for somebody to detain you or check your papers or something.

[kellygrrrl]

having gone to the Winter Olympics in Utah, I can tell you, it was not at all an enjoyable experience, and I was with Wayne Gretzky and/or Steve Garvey or their wives the entire time and had VIP access -- it just was NOT fun

[Economike]

Utah's strict but not as bad as Bejing I would imagine

[TJRich]

If foreigners came to my country under the pretense of attending an event and proceeded to become political and disruptive, I'd throw them into a cell until I felt better. Anyone who did this should immediately be thrown out of the country. They must be told they do not represent America, just their own agenda whatever that is.

[yappnmutt]

don't you know its white man's burden to save all these yellow, brown and black people from themselves? its called manifest destiny and they are called the yellow peril and you are not american unless you know how to run another country better than the owners of that country.

[macintoshsauce]

Are you bloody serious? You need some professional help...

[Clevelanded]

What about the CHINESE protesters?

[yappnmutt]

wrap your head around this. what they do with chinese protesters is their business. not yours.

[realityczech4u]

What about them. China is a sovereign nation. What business is it of yours?

[tpow]

doesn't sound so different then New York during the Republican Convention 4 years ago, we don't have to look too far to see where protestors are contained. Give me a break -
I know China violates several human rights but I think it's wrong for us to blind ourselves to the atrocities of our own country, we torture, we suppress, we censor too.

[totaldisbelief]

Just wait to see how "protesters" are treated at both Conventions right here in the Good Old US of A.

[demdan07]

Someone PLEASE explain to me how China was ever picked to hold the Olympics in the first place. If there is ever a time to boycott them, I think this would be the time. The government there is going to crack down on every person that even thinks about disagreeing with them, and with the smog over there, the athletes probably aren't going to be able to give peak performances. Everyone should have just stayed home.

[andvoodoo2]

The Chinese own everything now, including the U.S..

[totaldisbelief]

I like their food.

[RunMeloRun]

It was voted. They got more votes.

There's one thing you need to know, there are a lot of other countries in the world, other than US and EUs. They actually like China.

[gmlaster]

No they don't. They just like China's money.

[wvinvent]

Yes, the totalitarian governments of the world LOVE the Chinese tyranny. It sets an example they support: Suppression of dissent, elimination of liberty, economic success without those troublesome human rights....

[SwingingFromCenter]

I find it funny that you lefty loons talk about smog--like Los Angeles or Atlanta were beacons of clean air.

[wvinvent]

Anyone who is confused about what the Authoritarian Capitalist government in China is doing to its people only need read Naomi Klein's article in this issue of HP. Chinese tyranny is a danger to every freedom-loving person in the world. It exercises a complete control of a society that makes Orwell's world of "1984" look positively free.

There is no excuse for complete subjugation of a population. There is no excuse for eliminating every avenue of dissent and free thought. There is no excuse for providing support to a regime that sees its people as nothing more than a means to an end- power, riches, and total control.Th­e Beijing Olympics will go down in history along with the Berlin Games of 1932 as a sad event supporting a despicable dictatorship.

[newworldman777]

"There is no excuse for providing support to a regime that sees its people as nothing more than a means to an end- power, riches, and total control."

Sounds like you are describing your own government under the Bush administration. Clean up your own backyard before you criticize others.

[totaldisbelief]

Pretty soon China and the USA will be the same and all of the "common people " will be truly and throughly screwed. Two powerful countries ruled by wealthy fascist elitists who employ State goons to keep everyone else in their place.

[newworldman777]

"There is no excuse for complete subjugation of a population­."

Hey wvinvent, have you ever heard of that "peculiar institution" called American slavery? It only lasted fron 1619-1863 -- 244 years. Try telling the posterity of that American "population" that their ancestors had the freedom of dissent or free thought.

And don't try labeling me a "Chinese plant" (evidently a clue revealing your delusional mindset). I am a Native American, probably more American than you could ever hope to be.

[wvinvent]

I DO condemn China's government for their lack of liberty, their summary courts, their arrest and detention of legitimate domestic and foreign protesters, their unaccountable "leaders", their lack of protective labor laws, their duplicitous foreign policy, their censorship of the internet, their censorship and control of all newspapers and TV, their uncompensated confiscation of farms and private homes, their "communist party" corruption, the arbitrary relocation of millions of people, their environmental catastrophe, their underhanded efforts to crush Hong Kong democracy and self-rule, the silencing of grieved parents over kids killed in poorly constructed schools, and on and on and on.

There is no "moral equivalency" that allows the Authoritarian Capitalists in China to commit crimes against their own people just because others may or may not have done similar things in the past. Since no one or country is perfect, then that argument means no one may criticize China or work to effect change. Sorry- that just will not happen no matter how many Chinese shills are hired to post on the open and free discussion boards in the FREE west. Try posting criticism of the Chinese government in China. Yeah, we know that gets you 5 years minimum.

[Voodude]

Why do I have NO desire to watch a MINUTE of these Olympics? I used to watch them all but now i just dont give a damn...

[gmlaster]

My family is boycotting the Olympics. China should NEVER have been awarded these games in the first place. All they do is try to suppress protests, and harass journalists while attempting to look like nothing's wrong. They're even arrogant enough to believe that just because they've reneged on their promise to provide open internet access that stories of their antics won't get out to the rest of the world. Shame on the Olympic Committee for violating the spirit peace and brotherhood embodied by the Olympics. Why on Earth they would they award these games to a nation we know to be a violator of human rights? My bet is there was a big profit in it for somebody.

[yappnmutt]

psst. the olympics are in china not the usa.

[kellygrrrl]

that's a good sign Voo

[obamajusrocks]

Dumb shmucks ..ship them off to Tibet or better still maroon them on K2.

[globality]

yeah,

Freedom is dumb, Only a shmuck would protest cruel treatment of others.

are you chinese ?

[wvinvent]

Yes- this is probably one of the thousands of Chinese being paid to post here. Their job is to paste happy faces on the Chinese dictatorship and tear down the values of liberty and democracy. Liberty and democracy are incompatible with Chinese Authoritarian Capitalism.

[obamajusrocks]

No as a matter of fact I am not. Just an open minded person - why does anyone who doesnt buy this protest crap have to be chinese?

[SwingingFromCenter]

Good. Clear out every last one of them.

Trying to turn something meant to be apolitical like the Olympics into a protest platform is despicable. Lock em all up in a dirt room for a while.

[andvoodoo2]

And I'm sure if your land had been seized to build an Olymic stadium, you would sit back and quietly take it.

[SwingingFromCenter]

Having it seized for a stadium is no different than what we do in this country--steal the land under "eminent domain" to build a road or a stadium or a skyscraper. Happens all the time. But I guess it's OK here cause we're not Chinese, eh?

[bmauers]

The Olympics may be apolitical, but their location often are not.

[wvinvent]

"SwingingFromChina" supports imprisoning people without trial for expressing dissent. Guess which government pays this poster?

it is amazing just how completely the government of China has convinced some of its citizens to rail against the ideas of liberty and free expression. At least the lines of this conflict are clear. On one side is liberty. On the other side is tyranny.

[SwingingFromCenter]

You know what I find really amusing about this place? Half the time, I say something that all the lefty loons here agree with, and it's all "Yeah! Right on!". Lot of back slapping.

And then the other half of the time I say something you DON'T agree with, and invariably it instantly becomes "well you're swinging from somewhere, but it sure ain't center" or "SWC supports communism" or some other such nonsense.

Which, ironically, shows that I DO swing from the center, so to speak. I don't support imprisoning people for expressing dissent. What I support is getting rid of people who try to turn any event into a soapbox or platform for their cause. The Olympics is about the celebration of the perfection of the human form, NOT for political soapboxing. Time and a place for everything, and this ain't the time or place.

[macintoshsauce]

Pandering to China to give them the Olympics is despicable.

[SEQUOIABISON]

Looks like a George W Bush political rally, is there really any difference between the way the police are acting in Beijing and the way the police acted in NY during the Republican convention?

Sure we all stand for the sovereignty of Tibet, but how can we expect any nation in the world to take us seriously when we are also guilty of unjustifiably violating the sovereignty of Iraq.

The Chinese people have come a long way since the devastating famine and poverty they suffered after world war ll, they were forced through necessity to adopt harsh measures for survival of their nation.

They have recovered amazingly and are now a world power again, it is understandable why they are still mistrusting of the imperialistic European colonialists that exploited them not too many years ago.

I think we should cut China some slack and allow them to show the world the China they want us to see.

Before we start piling on with human rights violations and other political criticisms, lets give them a chance to put their best foot forward, let us objectively view the Olympic opening ceremony and their behavior during the games before we start casting dispersions.

Remember, this once great empire dominated a considerable portion of the planet rivaling Egypt in magnitude. Lets remember the spirit of the Olympic games and leave it to the young athletes to deal with war and politics after they finish exchanging pins with fellow Olympians from all over the world.

[Diogenis]

We have our own Olympics right here in the good ole USA. The Race is on....and Obama is in the lead! Someone get a resuscitator for McCain!!