U.S. calls on China to free foreign activists, criticizes Olympic restrictions
Hours after the American Embassy's statement, 10 foreigners being detained for holding protests during the Games reportedly are released shortly following the Olympics' close.
BEIJING — The U.S. Embassy urged China today to immediately release foreign activists jailed for holding protests and, in an unusually blunt message, criticized Beijing for failing to show greater tolerance and openness during the Olympics.
Hours later, the Associated Press reported that the 10 foreigners had been released shortly after the Games ended late today, citing British and German diplomats and American activists. Chinese officials refused to comment, and the report could not be immediately confirmed.
Chinese police had sentenced eight Americans, a German and a Briton to 10 days in detention for protesting during the Games.
Most were stopped by police while mounting small-scale protests over Chinese policies on Tibet and human rights.
During the early stages of the 17-day Olympics, China questioned and quickly deported foreign protesters. But in recent days, with most of the 100 or so foreign heads of state who attended the opening ceremony now gone, the regime had taken a harder line, adding lockup time.
"The fact they're keeping protesters for 10 days rather than processing and deporting them indicates the Chinese government is taking a more punitive approach," said Phelim Kine, a Hong Kong-based researcher with Human Rights Watch. "It suggests the government has been emboldened by the international community's relative silence at the government's tactics perpetrated during the Games."
China has received high marks for its stadiums, and managed and detailed preparation for the Games. The marked difference between the way China and most prior Olympic hosts view peaceful protests, however, was seen in Beijing's failure to approve a single protest at three designated zones set up in local parks.
China, which keeps a tight lid on any domestic complainants, was almost certainly pressured to set up the zones by the International Olympic Committee.
IOC President Jacques Rogge said at a news conference today that the Games had helped open up China, although he expressed surprise that Chinese officials hadn't approved a single protest.
Human rights groups and relatives said some of the Chinese who applied were arrested. State media said most of those who turned in the 77 protest applications made saw their complaints addressed, obviating the need to grant permits. The claim could not be confirmed, and some international rights groups have called the zones a "sham."
