Peter Foster and Richard Spencer
London Telegraph
Wednesday, Aug 6, 2008
Iain Thom, 24 from Edinburgh and Lucy Marion, 23, from London were seized along with two American protestors after they scaled lamp-posts outside the ‘Birds Nest’ Stadium to make their protest.
The demonstration was one of a number of protests to highlight Tibet and religious freedom which took place around Beijing to coincide with the arrival of the Olympic torch in Tiananmen Square.
Ms Marion, 23, who grew up in Cambridge and now lives in London is a graduate of Bristol University and, according to the activists’ website, has been campaigning for Tibetan rights since visiting Tibet in 2003.
Mr Thom, a grass roots co-ordinator for Students for a Free Tibet UK climbed a 120ft lamppost with an American protestor, Phill Bartell, 34 from Colorado, to string up a 200ft-long banner.
The message, “One World, One Dream: Free Tibet” – a parody of the official “One World, One Dream” slogan of the Beijing Olympics – remained on display for more than an hour before Chinese police moved in, the activists claimed.
Mr Thom spoke by mobile telephone to ABC News, saying he entered China on a tourist visa.
He said: “I’ll probably get detained by the police and then ejected out of the country but I believe it’s not anywhere near the risk or the fear that Tibetans are living under the occupation of the Chinese government.”
The protest happened hours before the Olympic Torch was due to arrive in Tiananmen Square, and two days before the Olympics opening ceremony takes place at the stadium.
The action was the latest in a series of demonstrations that have followed the Olympic Torch as it has made its way to the host nation.
The relay was disrupted by anti-China protests in London, Paris and other cities. Many people were outraged that its journey came hard on the heels of footage of Chinese armed police taking on monks in the Tibetan capital of Lhasa.
Security in China has been ramped up following an attack on Kashgar police station in Xinjiang province that resulted in the deaths of 16 policemen.
The tightened security was in evidence during the torch's last leg across China when it visited the Sichuan earthquake zone, where more than 69,000 people died in the disaster in May.
Busloads of police officers and troops with riot shields lined the route as the runners passed through Chengdu and security check points were set up for spectators.
Anxiety about security saw the route changed so that an area of Chengdu that houses Tibetan communities and was the scene of protests earlier in the year was avoided.
British Embassy officials said that they were 'aware' of the reports of the British arrests. "We are in touch with the Chinese authorities and are requesting immediate consular access should this information be correct," a spokesman said.
Lhadon Tethong, executive director of Students for a Free Tibet, described the four as "brave young activists", adding: "For years, the Chinese government has tried to use the Olympics to legitimise its illegal occupation of Tibet.
"At this very moment, Tibetans are facing the most severe and violent repression they have seen in decades at the hands of the Chinese government, and we have taken non-violent action at this critical time to draw the world's attention to the crisis gripping Tibet."
SOURCE: London Telegraph
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