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2008-07-30 | China Sets Zones for Olympics Protests
But it remained unclear whether international advocacy groups on issues like Tibet, Darfur and broader human rights would be able to secure the bureaucratic approvals needed to use the protest zones and whether they would be arrested if they held demonstrations elsewhere in Beijing.
A man mimics the Statue of Liberty in a miniature Manhattan at World Park, one of the three Beijing parks where protests will be allowed during the Olympics./Feng Li/Getty Images
With only 15 days until the Olympic opening ceremonies, China’s ruling Communist Party is tightening security across the country and has shown little appetite for domestic political dissent. Several dissidents have been jailed, monitored or placed under house arrest in recent months.
Liu Shaowu, director of security for Beijing’s Olympic organizing committee, said that Ritan Park, World Park and Purple Bamboo Park would be designated for use by protesters during the Games and that the approval process would be regulated by Beijing’s public security bureau.
“The police will safeguard the right to demonstrate as long as protesters have obtained prior approval and are in accordance with the law,” Mr. Liu said during a news conference.
Permits are required for protests at the designated parks. /The New York Times
The issue of how much space, if any, China would allow for legal demonstrations became especially charged after the international Olympic torch relay this year. Violent anti-China protests marred the relay in London and Paris, then at later stops angry confrontations occurred between China supporters and advocates for Tibet. Chinese leaders want the Games to showcase the country’s achievements, and they are wary of protests being broadcast to a worldwide audience.
Under Chinese law, citizens must apply to the local public security bureau five days in advance of a scheduled protest. Applicants must appear in person and offer detailed information about their topic, any possible slogans and the expected number of demonstrators. The law prohibits protests that are deemed harmful to national unity and social stability or that agitate for ethnic separatism. These prohibitions can be interpreted so broadly that most legal protests are not approved.
“We never get it no matter how many times we try,” said Jiang Tianyong, a lawyer and legal-rights advocate who has been rejected numerous times. “This is only a show for foreigners. Otherwise, I’d love to see these three places be kept after the Olympics so we can let our voices be heard, too.”
Xu Zhiyong, another legal-rights advocate, agreed that obtaining approval for legal protests was usually very difficult, but he also applauded the Olympic protest zones as an improvement that should be acknowledged.
“As a first step toward opening up space for dissent, it is appropriate,” Mr. Xu said. “There should be many people who are willing to use this space, petitioners and people who have experienced injustice.”
Illegal protests are common in China, especially in rural areas or smaller cities where peasants and laid-off workers hold demonstrations about issues like local corruption or illegal land seizures. In recent weeks, Chinese media have reported on demonstrations around the country, including one in late June in Guizhou Province that involved an estimated 30,000 people in response to the way officials handled the investigation into the death of a local teenage girl .
Usually, these demonstrations are localized and almost never represent attempts to directly challenge the leadership in Beijing. The police usually disperse the crowds and local officials sometimes relent on some demands, even as protest leaders are often detained or sentenced to prison.
Somewhat similar protest zones were used at the 2004 Athens Olympics, and cities hosting other international events have sought to isolate demonstrators in designated areas.
Nicholas Bequelin, a researcher for the Asia division of Human Rights Watch, criticized the broader trend in creating protest zones during international events. He described Beijing’s protest zones as inadequate and said Chinese citizens would be very reluctant to use them, given the political priority that the party has placed on the Olympics. He said the police might use video cameras and collect the names of demonstrators.
“Chinese people know better than to go demonstrate in a protest zone during the Olympics, except maybe a few people with nothing to lose,” Mr. Bequelin said. “They know the risk of retribution is very high.”
He added: “It is not a step toward allowing Chinese citizens to demonstrate freely. They are using this as a fig leaf to cover the fact that they are organizing the Games in a very repressive environment.”
Mr. Liu, the Olympic security director, did not spell out the consequences facing protesters who attempt to demonstrate without permission or outside the designated areas. But he said that the Olympic charter prohibited protests at venues and that protesters should be steered toward the designated zones, in part to ensure that the Games themselves are not disrupted.
“The places for their demonstrations must be made clear in the application, and during the Games times, we must secure a good flow of traffic, a good environment and good social order,” he said.
Zhang Jing and Jake Hooker contributed research.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/24/sports/olympics/24china.html?fta=y
HONG KONG — Do not bring any printed materials critical of China. Do not plan on holding any rallies or demonstrations in China. Do not think that you are guaranteed an entry visa because you hold tickets to an Olympic event. And do not even think about smuggling opium into China.
That is some of the eclectic advice issued by the Beijing Organizing Committee on Monday, in a document listing 57 questions that foreign visitors to the Olympic Games in August may have: “Does China have any regulation against insults to the flag or national emblems?” “After eating or drinking at restaurants or hotels, if you have diarrhea or vomiting symptoms, how do you lodge a complaint?”
The advisory to foreigners, posted on the committee’s Web site, but only in Chinese, provides answers for each question in a deadpan style. (Burning or soiling the Chinese flag or emblems is a criminal offense; food poisoning symptoms are to be reported to the local health department.) Some of the rules, like a ban on religious or political banners or slogans at Olympic sites, appear aimed at preventing protests of China’s crackdown in Tibet this year and other Chinese policies.
The Beijing Organizing Committee took pains at the start of the document to say that all the answers were based on existing Chinese regulations. The International Olympic Committee had no immediate response on Monday to the rules. Its position on freedom of expression issues as they relate to the Olympics is not entirely clear.
“A person’s ability to express his or her opinion is a basic human right and as such does not need to have a specific clause in the Olympic Charter because its place is implicit,” said Jacques Rogge, the president of the International Olympic Committee, at a meeting in Beijing in April.
But Mr. Rogge also pointed out at the time that the International Olympic Committee had a rule for more than half a century that “no kind of demonstration or political, religious or racial propaganda is permitted in any Olympic sites, venues or areas.”
The advisory issued by the Beijing Organizing Committee includes a ban on bringing into China “anything detrimental to China’s politics, economy, culture or moral standards, including printed material, film negatives, photos, records, movies, tape recordings, videotapes, optical discs and other items.”
All rallies, demonstrations and marches, at athletic sites or anywhere else, are also banned during the Games unless approved in advance by public security agencies, a longstanding policy in China even when no Games or other big events are being held.
Before being awarded the Olympics, China promised in 2001 to improve its human rights record. But China and the International Olympic Committee have never released the text of their contract for the Olympic Games, in contrast with other recent Olympic host cities.
Nicholas Bequelin, the Hong Kong-based China researcher for Human Rights Watch, an advocacy group, said China had chosen a very broad interpretation of the Olympic restriction on political and religious activity. “It is a slippery slope, and the Games in Beijing are testing the limit,” he said.
Jill Savitt, the executive director of Dream for Darfur, which wants China to put more pressure on the Sudanese government to bring peace to the Darfur region in western Sudan, said the group had been considering ways to protest in Beijing during the Olympics, like having visitors wear green, a color associated with Sudan.
But the earthquake last month, together with the controversy over the sometimes violent protests by Tibet supporters during the Olympic torch relay, has prompted Dream for Darfur to reassess its plans, and no decision has been made, she said.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/03/world/asia/03china.html?fta=y
Internet sites still blocked for Olympic reporters
Foreign journalists use Internet services provided at the Main Press Center at the Olympic Green in Beijing, Tuesday, July 29, 2008. After months of promising the Internet will be uncensored for journalists during the Beijing Olympics, the IOC delivered a stark clarification on Tuesday, many Internet sites will be blocked under controls applied by China's communist government. The blocked Internet is the latest broken promise on press freedom at the Beijing Olympics, which China's authoritarian government is hoping will show off an open, modern country and the rising political and economic power of the 21st century.
(AP Photo/Oded Balilty)
By STEPHEN WADE, AP Sports Writer 49 minutes ago
Olympic organizers are backtracking on another promise about coverage of the Beijing Games, keeping in place blocks on Internet sites in the Main Press Center and venues where reporters will work.
A foreign journalist uses Internet services provided at the Main Press Center at the Olympic Green in Beijing, Tuesday, July 29, 2008. After months of promising the Internet will be uncensored for journalists during the Beijing Olympics, the IOC delivered a stark clarification on Tuesday, many Internet sites will be blocked under controls applied by China's communist government. The blocked Internet is the latest broken promise on press freedom at the Beijing Olympics, which China's authoritarian government is hoping will show off an open, modern country and the rising political and economic power of the 21st century. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty)
The blocked sites will make it difficult for journalists to retrieve information, particularly on political and human rights stories the government dislikes. On Tuesday, sites such as Amnesty International or any search for a site with Tibet in the address could not be opened at the Main Press Center, which will house about 5,000 print journalists when the games open Aug. 8.
A China Central Television helicopter flies past the Olympic rings on a viewing tower in the Olympic Green in Beijing Tuesday July 29, 2008. The 2008 Beijing Olympic Games open on Aug. 8.
(AP Photo/Greg Baker)
"This type of censorship would have been unthinkable in Athens, but China seems to have more formalities," said Mihai Mironica, a journalist with ProTV in Romania. "If journalists cannot fully access the Internet here, it will definitely be a problem."
NBA basketball player Yao Ming (C) walks surrounded by media representatives before the start of the official opening ceremony of the Olympic village in Beijing, July 27, 2008. The heavily-guarded village, which will house 16,000 athletes and officials during next month's Beijing Games, was officially opened under skies still grey with the pollution that China has promised to clear in time for the August 8-24 Games.
REUTERS/Joe Chan (CHINA) (BEIJING OLYMPICS 2008 PREVIEW)
The censored Internet is the latest broken promise on press freedoms. In bidding for the games seven years ago, Chinese officials said the media would have "complete freedom to report." And in April, Hein Verbruggen and Kevan Gosper — senior IOC members overseeing the games — said they'd received assurances from Chinese officials that Internet censorship would be lifted for journalists during the games.
China routinely blocks Internet access to its own citizens.
Chen Zhili (R), a senior Communist Party official and Mayor of the Olympic village, holds aloft the key to the heavily-guarded village after being handed it by Beijing Olympic chief Liu Qito during the official opening ceremony in Beijing July 27, 2008. The village, which will house 16,000 athletes and officials during next month's Beijing Games, was officially opened under skies still grey with the pollution that China has promised to clear in time for the August 8-24 Games.REUTERS/David Gray (CHINA) (BEIJING OLYMPICS 2008 PREVIEW)
Gosper, however, issued a clarification Tuesday. He said the open Internet extended only to sites that related to "Olympic competitions."
"My preoccupation and responsibility is to ensure that the games competitions are reported openly to the world," Gosper said.
"The regulatory changes we negotiated with BOCOG and which required Chinese legislative changes were to do with reporting on the games," Gosper added, using the acronym for the Olympic organizers. "This didn't necessarily extend to free access and reporting on everything that relates to China."
Chinese cooks prepare food for the Olympic athletes at the Olympic Athletes Village after its opening ceremony in Beijing Sunday, July 27, 2008. The village will house about 16,000 Olympic athletes.
(AP Photo/ Elizabeth Dalziel)
Journalists trying to use the Internet on Tuesday expressed frustration, and some also complained about slow speeds. Several said it might be an intentional ploy to discourage use.
IOC officials have said the Internet would be operational by "games time," which began Sunday when the Olympic Village opened.
In a related event, Amnesty International released a report Tuesday accusing China of failing to improve its human rights record ahead of the Olympics.
Members of Russia's Olympics rhythmic gymnastics team walk past the Assumption Cathedral at the Kremlin in Moscow July 29, 2008. With hopes that Russian patriotism will follow sporting victory, President Dmitry Medvedev on Tuesday welcomed the country's Beijing-bound athletes and wished them well at the Olympics.
REUTERS/Sergei Karpukhin (RUSSIA)
The group said that in the last year, thousands of petitioners, reformists and others were arrested as part of a government campaign to "clean up" Beijing before the Olympics. It said many have been sentenced to manual labor without trial.
Beijing organizers have been backtracking on the freedom to report.
Rights holders such as NBC, which has paid about $900 million to broadcast the games, and non-rights holders have faced roadblocks, red tape and changing rules as they prepare to cover unexpected events away from the venues.
Members of a police SWAT team line up outside the main Olympic Stadium during security drill rehearsals on July 23. Strong winds have helped clear Beijing's skies of the pollution that is threatening the Olympics, but authorities hoping to breathe easy faced pressure over China's human rights record.
(AFP/File/Frederic J. Brown
Broadcasters have complained about having permits rescinded, being forced to give notice a month ahead of time about the location of satellite trucks, and facing harassment from bureaucrats and police about renting office space or getting parking permits for their vehicles.
Earlier this month, broadcasters tried again to get Olympic organizers to lift restrictions on live broadcasts from Tiananmen Square. Alex Gilady, a senior IOC member and a senior vice president of NBC Sports, has pushed for more live time from the iconic venue — China is offering six hours daily, and no interviews. Others are pressing to lift the ban on live interviews.
A Chinese paramilitary policeman tries to block photos being taken outside the Olympic Stadium which is known locally as the "Bird's Nest" in Beijing on July 21. China is using the Beijing Olympics as a pretext to pursue -- and in some cases tighten -- a crackdown on human rights, notably ridding the capital of "undesirables," Amnesty International charged Monday.
(AFP/File/Mark Ralston)
"Don't push the issue," responded organizing committee executive vice president Wang Wei, according to an official who attended the meeting. It was Wang who led Beijing's 2001 bid, and who said after winning: "We will give the media complete freedom to report when they come to China."
NBC is promising to air 3,600 hours of coverage, and its owner, General Electric, is one of 12 top sponsors of the IOC. Some top sponsors have reportedly paid as much as $200 million.
A China Central Television helicopter flies past the National Stadium, known as the Bird's Nest, as construction cranes are seen behind in Beijing Tuesday July 29, 2008. The Bird's Nest will host the opening ceremony of the 2008 Olympic Games on Aug 8.
(AP Photo/Greg Baker)
In an interview with The Associated Press, Dick Ebersol, chairman of NBC Universal Sports, said he would like to see more "openness" from Chinese officials. But he seemed to play down the news value of the Olympics. He said NBC was ready to cover stories as they come up, but "we're not going to cavalierly ... blow out sporting events to show news."
Olympic historian David Wallechinsky has criticized the IOC for giving the games to China. He's visited the country more than a half-dozen times in 30 years, and said the IOC and its sponsors were distracted by China's booming economy.
Workers stand beside a structure on top of the National Stadium, known as the Bird's Nest, in Beijing Tuesday July 29, 2008. Officials have not announced the structure's purpose but speculation is that it may be covering the cauldron for the Olympic flame or props for the opening ceremony on August 8.
(AP Photo/Greg Baker)
"There is so much money being made that the IOC has just turned a blind eye," Wallechinsky said. "The IOC wanted to believe it was all going to go well, and they weren't there when they should have been. You know, the Communist Party wants to control everything."
The IOC has maintained the Olympics are a sports event, and it should not intervene in politics. However, others have faulted the Swiss-based body for failing to hold China to promises made seven years ago when it won the bid.
An athlete from Belgium swims in the National Aquatics Center, also known as the Water Cube, at the Olympic Green in Beijing July 29, 2008.
REUTERS/Jason Lee (CHINA) (BEIJING OLYMPICS 2008 PREVIEW)
"It is truly sad to see the IOC fail in this regard," said Vincent Brossell, a a spokesman for Paris-based press rights group Reporters Without Borders.
Rioting in Tibet four months ago, which sparked protests on international legs of the torch relay, was followed by the mobilization of an army of security personnel in Beijing — 110,000 police, riot squads and special forces, augmented by more than 300,000 Olympic volunteers and neighborhood watch members.
View of the Olympic stadium (L) and the Olympic Swimming Centre in Beijing, July 21. Australia will be one of the last countries to enter the Olympic stadium at the opening ceremony because the use of Chinese characters has scrambled the traditional order, the team's chief has said.
(AFP/File/Mark Ralston)
Cuban reporter Joel Garcia Leon, with the magazine Trabajadores, said he expected the censorship. But he was overwhelmed by other red tape.
"I'm surprised how tightly controlled and complicated everything is here," he said. "To get a phone number from China Mobile, I have to give them a copy of my passport and my mother's maiden name. This seems quite excessive and abnormal."
___
Associated Press Writers Chi-Chi Zhang in Beijing and David Bauder in New York contributed to this report.
Beijing Games hit by Internet ticket scam
By Crispian Balmer and Ken WillsMon Aug 4, 3:31 AM ET
Sports fans around the world have been swindled by an international Internet scam which offered thousands of bogus tickets for the Beijing Games, Olympic officials said on Monday.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) announced it was taking action to shut down the fraudsters, but the move came too late to help the victims find replacement seats at the Games.
Among those left out of pocket were the families of Olympic athletes in both Australia and New Zealand, with people in the United States, Japan, Norway, China and Britain also reportedly conned by the sophisticated sting.
"We cannot accept people paying money for tickets and not getting them," said Gerhard Heiberg, an IOC executive board member.
Heiberg said the issue was raised last week, with both the IOC and the United States Olympic Committee filing a lawsuit on Friday in a district court in California, accusing at least six websites of selling illegitimate or nonexistent tickets.
However, a U.S. lawyer who said he had lost $12,000 in the fraud, accused the IOC of complacency.
"They have known about these sites for months and months and did nothing," said Jim Moriarty, the partner of a Houston-based law firm which is looking to represent fellow victims in any subsequent legal actions.
"They have dashed the hopes and dreams of thousands of people who have been planning for years to go the Games, and have already paid thousands of dollars for airfare and what they thought were legitimate tickets," he told Reuters.
STILL UP AND RUNNING
Despite last week's IOC suit, one of the sites accused of fraud -- www.beijingticketing.com -- was still operating on Monday, offering seats for numerous events, including Friday's opening ceremony, with prices topping $2,150.
The professional-looking site, which carries the official Beijing Games logo, provides a London phone number, which rang dead on Monday, and a U.S. address in Phoenix, Arizona.
Australia's Olympic Committee (AOC) offered commiserations but no solutions to the scores of Australians left out of pocket.
"Our sympathy goes to them ... but we certainly aren't in a position to step in, compensate or find other tickets," AOC chief John Coates said on Monday.
"We warned folk to only deal with authorized ticket suppliers," he told a news conference.
The press reported that some Australian nationals had been swindled out of almost $45,000. Moriarty said one unnamed individual had lost $57,000.
"The worst thing is that some people don't even know yet that they bought tickets that won't arrive," he said.
"Some were told they could pick up the tickets at an office in Beijing, and they won't be there. My guess is they sold thousands of tickets that don't exist."
Tickets for events in host city Beijing completely sold out last week, Games organizers said, leaving only seats for competitions in co-host cities still available.
Many tickets are still being offered on the e-Bay auction website, but Australia's Coates urged caution.
"There may be tickets on eBay that are delivered ... but I think it is a great risk. That would be my message," he said.
(Additional reporting by Karolos Grohmann)
(Editing by Alison Williams and Miles Evans)
(For more stories visit our multimedia website "Road to Beijing" at http://www.reuters.com/news/sports/2008olympics; and see our blog at http://blogs.reuters.com/china)
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http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080804/tc_nm/olympics_tickets_scam_dc_1;_ylt=A0geu06j3ZZIvx0AWgCspph4
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发表于 01:57 | 最后修改于 2008-08-04 19:49
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