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The conflict between individuals and groups trying to voice criticism of the Chinese government versus the resources of the authoritarian state police apparatus to prevent incidents from happening or spreading was an asymmetrical competition from the outset.
Billions of dollars were devoted to the glory of hosting these Games, not only modernizing Beijing’s urban infrastructure and its spanking new sporting venues, but also in the cradle-to-winner’s platform training of athletes going for the gold, and public security forces drilled to protect the torch abroad and thwart any expression tarnishing the medals won at home.
Liu Shaowu, security director of the Beijing Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games, promised on July 23, “People or protesters who want to express their personal opinions can go to do so” in accordance with “common practice in other countries.”
Not a single protest permit has been issued during the Games, although state media reported Monday that the Public Security Bureau had received 77 applications to hold protests, involving 149 people – all but three of them Chinese citizens. A bureau spokesman said that 74 of these applications had been withdrawn after the problems they referred to had been addressed through consultations with the relevant authorities.
Media reports on the number of Chinese citizens arrested applying for a permit to hold a legal protest during the XXIX Olympiad range from six to 20; there have been additional arrests outside the three sanctioned sites where demonstrations are supposed to be allowed: Ritan Park in east Beijing, Purple Bamboo Park in the west and a World Park filled with replicas of iconic structures such as the Eiffel Tower in the city’s far southwest.
These places are in close proximity to police stations or paramilitary force barracks and far from stadiums; journalists have been harassed and Chinese intimidated by non-uniformed teams while trying to conduct interviews inside the parks.
Thousands of Chinese petitioners seeking legal and administrative hearings in Beijing to address complaints of abuse nationwide were detained and expelled from the municipality ahead of the Games. There have been a handful of incidents from such individuals who managed to stay in the city, at Tiananmen Square and elsewhere. Others with grievances, such as the people in Sichuan who lost a child to shoddy buildings during the May 12 earthquake, vowed to wait until the Olympics were over before making their voices heard in the capital.
The other major threat of domestic dissent, ethnic unrest, has been focused in China’s Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region, a province in Central Asia thousands of miles away from Beijing. The Turkestan Islamic Party, an offshoot of the East Turkistan Independence Movement, a recognized terrorist organization, took responsibility for bombings in the cities of Kunming and Shanghai before the Games, but has not made good on its threat to disrupt the Olympics.
There have been incidents involving ethnic Uighurs and possibly foreign Muslims directed against the police and military in the cities of Kashgar and Kuqa since the start of the Olympics. Nicholas Bequelin, an expert on unrest in the region who works for Human Rights Watch, described it as “the most significant violence in Xinjiang for many years.”
Besides keeping their fellow countrymen quiescent, Chinese public security forces had to contend with foreigners and the causes they embrace – issues ranging from human rights to animal rights, religious freedom, freedom of expression, China’s policy in Darfur and its handling of Tibet.
American activists from the Christian Defense Coalition and Generation Life were detained trying to hold a prayer vigil and news conference near the Mao Zedong Memorial Hall on Tiananmen Square. Authorities used the low-tech solution of opening umbrellas to prevent images of their arrest from reaching a world audience.
Another spiritual group that made news headlines in 1999-2002 using the square as a protest forum, the outlawed Falun Gong, has not been heard from at the Olympics thus far.
China prevented Darfur from becoming a protest issue on its soil by revoking visas for Joey Cheek, co-founder of Team Darfur and a Winter Olympics gold medalist, and Kendra Zanotto, a bronze medal winner at the 2004 Summer Games. Mia Farrow’s Web cast of Darfur Olympics directed at English-speaking audiences has had no discernible impact in China during this event.
Tibet is the one area where the Chinese authorities have been getting a workout from foreigners. Students for a Free Tibet have staged six protests in Beijing, which included hanging a massive banner close to the National Olympic Stadium; displaying Tibetan flags near the Bird’s Nest prior to the Games’ opening ceremony; two protests at Tiananmen Square, plus trying to block the entrance to the Chinese Ethnic Culture Park – where a foreign reporter was manhandled then arrested – and most recently draping a banner at Beijing’s boldest chunk of new architecture, CCTV Headquarters. Approximately 40 members and supporters of this Tibet activist group have been detained and deported thus far.
One foreign group has been very helpful to the Chinese: the International Olympics Committee. President Jacques Rogge promised competitors would not be allowed to express themselves at competition venues, on the victory stand, or in the athletes’ village. Aside from these sacrosanct spots separating sport and politics, athletes were free to speak with reporters, and say and wear whatever they wanted. Few have done so.
Amanda Beard from the U.S. women’s swim team posed semi-nude for the animal rights group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals before the Games began. Athens silver medal fencer Imke Duplitzer was one of the few competitors who decided to boycott the opening ceremony in Beijing, dubbing it a “circus” and platform for Chinese government propaganda.
Duplitzer was also one of 49 athletes from 22 countries to sign the German-sponsored “Sports for Peace” petition supported by the International Campaign for Tibet and Amnesty International. The initiative sent an open letter to Chinese President Hu Jintao on July 8, calling on China to respect human rights, find a peaceful solution to the issue of Tibet and abolish use of the death penalty.
At the end of competition on Monday, athletes signing the appeal had won two gold, one silver and three bronze medals. None of them had risked losing their awards by breaking Rogge’s rules.
