2008 Beijing Games Human Rights News

The Beijing Olympic Games are now into their second and last week. And the daily news, both sports results and political incidents, have reached a cruise speed that is hypnotic.

Even the official cant now seems routine. Such as the statement made by a Beijing municipal public security official to the New China news agency giving a breakdown of the requests for permission to demonstrate in one of the three city parks earmarked for this purpose. It was, to say the least, abstract. A total of 77 requests had been made by 149 people, the unidentified official said. Most were linked to the “right to work, health issues or social disputes.” You have to read the statement to get the flavour of the delicious bureaucratic jargon used to explain why and how 74 of the requests were refused.

As for sports, a sad day for everyone was dominated by the withdrawal of Chinese 100 metres hurdles champion Liu Xiang because of an injury. Scant attention was paid to the fifth protest by the US group Students for a Free Tibet, which managed to hang a gigantic banner on the facade of the headquarters of state-run China Central Television. And you could safely bet a fortune that no one noticed that the International Olympic Committee ordered the expulsion of Senegal’s athletics coach from the Olympic Games and from China for brandishing a banner saying “Friendship first, then competition” during the opening ceremony. It is true that the level of violence in the message was exceptional.