HONG KONG, China (AP) -- Security officers have
removed a university student who tried to display the Tibetan flag
during the Olympic equestrian competition in Hong Kong.
The student, Christina Chan, displayed a placard bearing the
Canadian flag and the Tibetan flag underneath during the
competition in Hong Kong's suburban Sha Tin district early
Saturday. When she tried to peel away the Canadian flag to reveal
the Tibetan flag, four or five security officers asked her to leave
but she refused. Officers carried her out of the venue about half
an hour later.
Lam Woon-kwong, chief executive of the equestrian event, said
Chan would be banned from future events.
Several other protesters demanding China abolish the death
penalty held a banner that said "stop executions" near the
venue.
"She was sort of disturbing other spectators around her, which
is against the house rules," event spokesman Mark Pinkstone
said.
Pinkstone said Chan -- who also protested at the Hong
Kong leg of the Olympic torch relay in May --
was removed from the venue but not arrested.
Organizers said before the equestrian event that the Tibetan
flag would be banned under house rules that prohibit the display of
national flags of countries not represented at the competition. The
rules also prohibit propaganda on banners, clothing or
accessories.
TV footage also showed a man wearing a T-shirt that said
"democracy and human rights are more important than the Olympics." The man was asked
to take off the shirt before entering the venue.
A former British colony now ruled by China, Hong Kong is promised
Western-style civil liberties commonly denied on the mainland, like
freedom of speech and protest. Still, the local government has
apparently tightened controls because of the Olympics.
An opposition lawmaker says three U.S.-based ethnic Chinese
democracy activists were turned away at the airport Wednesday.
Olympic organizers moved the equestrian event from Beijing to
Hong Kong because of a rash of equine diseases and substandard
quarantine procedures on the mainland. Hong Kong has a prominent
horse racing scene.
Also on Saturday, five activists staged a "peaceful protest" in
Tiananmen Square, breaching heavy security that has surrounded the
heart of Beijing for the Olympic Games, a pro-Tibet group said.
Lhadon Thetong, executive director for Students for a Free
Tibet, said the protesters draped themselves in Tibetan flags and
lay down in the square on Saturday.
It wasn't immediately clear if they were stopped by
authorities.
The action came a day after three Americans from the group were
detained while displaying Tibetan flags near the entrance to the
National Stadium, where the opening ceremony for the games were
held.
Tibet has been an extremely
sensitive topic since protests against Chinese rule turned violent
in the region's capital of Lhasa in March.
Similar demonstrations were sparked in Tibetan communities
throughout western China and a massive crackdown by Chinese
security forces ensued. Pro-Tibet groups say scores of monks and
nuns have been arrested, imprisoned and beaten since March.
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.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
<!--startclickprintexclude-->
tis shu-qi lookalike gal big big hor? i also want to be
policeman liao. 
