Beijing: A Protest-Free Zone?

Chinese police have confirmed there have been no demonstrations in any of the three special Olympic protest zones - despite dozens of applications from activists.

A total of 149 people, including three from overseas, made 77 applications for permission to protest at the Beijing Olympics, but none were approved, and most requests were withdrawn or rejected.

A spokesman for the municipal public security bureau said most of the applications concerned labour, medical and welfare issues.

He said 74 of the applications had been withdrawn after amicable settlements between the parties and Chinese authorities.

"Two other applications have been suspended due to incomplete procedures," he added.
"In one case, the applicant wanted to involve children in the demonstration. This is against the law."

The other case concerned incomplete particulars, he said, but did not go into further details.

The zones were set up after international pressure to allow protests during the Olympics following the controversial decision to award the Games to Beijing.

The three areas - Zizhuyuan Park in the city's northwest, Ritan Park in the east, and World Park in the southwest - are all miles away from the Olympic area.

And anyone looking for peace and quiet would have done well to visit them.

When Sky News visited Ritan, or Temple of Heaven, kites were flying, children were fishing, and elderly people were playing cards.

But aside from the large numbers of police patrolling the park, there was nothing to suggest it was a designated protest zone.

There was nothing to show which part of the 20-hectare park had been set aside for public demonstrations, or how large the area was.

The only signs told how Ritan was where emperors in the Ming and Qing dynasties worshiped before it was turned into a park by the People's Republic of China in 1949.

There have been quickly quelled Tibet protests near the stadiums, with a number of activists detained and deported.

But little of the anger that greeted the Olympic torch on its world tour has made it to Beijing.
Some international groups did not bother to apply, assuming the Chinese regime would not allow them visas into the country or permission to demonstrate.

The red tape involved did little for hopes the protest zones would create a precedent for free speech in China.

Demonstrators had to submit their requests at least five days in advance, detail the subject of protest, and information on who would be involved.

The application also had to clarify the time, route, posters and slogans to be used, and any use of amplified sound.

The politburo set up the zones to "adhere to the Olympic traditions, such as free expression outside the sporting venues," said Mo Yuchuan, director of the Research Center for Constitutional and Administrative Law, of Renmin University of China.

He claimed: "It offers a new channel for the protesters to better express their opinions by attracting the attention of tourists, reporters and officials during the Games."

But this is not the experience of those who applied for a protest permit, according to human rights groups.

They have recorded a string of alleged abuses including that of Ge Yifei, a 48-year-old doctor who wanted to vent her anger about a property dispute in her home town of Suzhou.

She was detained for several hours before being escorted home. Zhang Wei was jailed for 30 days after applying to protest about her home being destroyed in the Olympics development.

And parents whose children died in May's Sichuan earthquake were intercepted at Chengdu airport, and had their air tickets torn up. It leaves you with little doubt that the zones were set up to appease the International Olympic Committee's concerns about freedom of speech, and were never going to be used in the first place.

Given China's failure to deliver on its human rights promises, it only strengthens the argument of those who say the decision to award the Olympics to Beijing was a big mistake - and a humiliation for the IOC.