8 Tibet Activists Detained near Olympics Venue

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BEIJING � Eight Tibet activists who protested Wednesday near the main Olympics venue and a British television journalist who tried to film them were detained by police, a rights group and a TV producer said. The journalist said he was threatened by a security guard.

The New York-based Students for a Free Tibet said two of its members hung a "Free Tibet" banner on a bridge in the Chinese Ethnic Culture Park, south of the National Stadium, at about 12:30 p.m.

Security guards drag away a protester wearing a t-shirt with a "Free Tibet" slogan in Beijing on August 13. Security forces dragged away five pro-Tibetan protesters who chained their bicycles to the gate of a northern Beijing park, breaking up the latest protest on the sidelines of the 2008 Olympics. (Photo: Reuters)

Another five blocked the front entrance of the park, which prominently features a Tibet-related exhibit, and handcuffed themselves to each other and to bicycles around them, said Lhadon Tethong, the group's executive director.

They wore T-shirts reading "Free Tibet" and held a banner that said "Tibetans Are Dying for Freedom," while a sixth activist explained the reason for the protest, Tethong said.

All, including Pema Yoko, a half-Tibetan woman with Japanese citizenship, were detained by police and plainclothes security agents, she said. The rest were Americans.

John Ray of London-based ITV News was trying to cover the protest when he was grabbed by police and put into a car, despite his efforts to show them his Olympic press accreditation.

"The Tibetan protesters were in the park, John Ray was running behind them, the police were running behind him," said Bessie Du, a Beijing-based producer for the program, who watched the situation unfold from afar.

Ray was later released. He said he had been trying to get into the park to film the protest. "I didn't get very far. I was threatened by a security guard very physically," he said.

A security guard stops a protester who tried to display a Tibetan flag in the Ethnic Culture Park in Beijing August 13. (Photo: Reuters)

Open media coverage of unexpected events away from Olympic venues has been an open question for these games. Beijing is on record promising complete freedom to report for foreign journalists.

International Olympic Committee spokeswoman Emmanuelle Moreau said the committee had heard reports that a British journalist "was allegedly assaulted" Wednesday and was checking the reports.

"The IOC's position is clear: the media must be free to report on the Olympic Games," she said in a statement. "We are endeavoring to discover the full facts of this incident and, if necessary, will raise our concerns with the appropriate authority."

A man who answered the telephone at the Beijing Public Security Bureau refused to comment. The park's security director who would give only his surname, Dong, confirmed the protest took place.

"We always had security arrangements in place. Even before they could fully start the demonstration, we had them under control," Dong said.

Chinese authorities have been extra sensitive about Tibet since bloody anti-government protests in March in the region's capital and surrounding provinces.

Many Tibetans insist they were an independent nation before communist troops invaded in 1950, while Beijing says the Himalayan region has been part of its territory for centuries.

The demonstration was the largest in a string of brief protests�mostly by foreigners hoping to use the Olympics to draw attention to their causes�throughout Beijing since the games started last week. Most have had less than five people and foreign activists have been deported.

Also Wednesday, a rights group said Chinese activist Ji Sizun was taken away by security agents after applying for permission to protest against corruption during the Olympics.