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| Friday, July 13 Updated: July 14, 9:45 PM ET |
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| Protesters demonstrate against Beijing Associated Press | |||
MOSCOW -- Police quickly broke up a protest Friday by groups
opposed to Beijing's bid to stage the 2008 Olympics, hours before
the games were awarded to the Chinese capital.
Six people, including a French citizen from the international
Reporters Without Borders media freedom organization, were seen
being taken away by police. But another anti-bid activist said at
least 12 were detained.
All were released on their own recognizance and their cases were
postponed until Monday, said the activist, Ann Callaghan of the
Free Tibet Campaign.
The demonstrators tried to unfurl three banners on the Moscow
River embankment across from the World Trade Center, where the IOC
is meeting. Two dozen policemen -- some in riot gear -- overpowered
the protesters and after a minute of struggle led six to a waiting
bus.
The demonstration was organized by Reporters Without Borders and
Russia's Transnational Radical Party. The detainees included
Vincent Brossel and Alexandre Levy of Reporters Without Borders,
Russian human rights advocate Alexander Podrabinek, Radical Party
leader Nikolai Khramov and two Russians affiliated with the Tibetan
Buddhist Center in Moscow.
Police officers ripped IOC accreditations from around the necks
of two TV camera operators, but they were later returned.
Nina Betnarz, a producer for Germany's ARD-TV, said a police
lieutenant had threatened to jail ARD soundman Vinyamin Sakharov if
he got into a confrontation with police. His got his accreditation
back after two hours, she said.
Four other protesters trying to approach the conference center
were questioned by police and told not to return.
"Are we already being prepared for the idea that in 2008 in
Beijing journalists and opponents of the regime who dare to bring
up the human rights situation in China will be put under the
screws," the director of Reporters Without Borders, Robert Menard,
asked in a message sent to IOC President Juan Antonio Samaranch on
Friday.
"Given the IOC's lack of engagement with civil society and
failure to address human rights concerns during the lead-up to the
vote, we have serious doubts about its willingness to hold China
accountable for human rights violations associated with the 2008
games," said John Hocevar of Students for a Free Tibet.
Hocevar and Callaghan had been detained briefly Thursday for
passing out leaflets opposing Beijing's bid.
Callaghan said at least 12 protesters were detained Friday near
the IOC meeting. They included a Tibetan monk who was holding a
picture of the Dalai Lama, Tibet's exiled spiritual leader,
Callaghan said.
"They're just scooping all of us up," she said.
Police also broke up a tiny demonstration Wednesday, detaining
six demonstrators and two journalists, including an Associated
Press photographer.
The protesters say China's actions in Tibet -- including
repression of protest and discrimination against ethnic Tibetans --
should disqualify Beijing from hosting the prestigious event.
Advocates of the bid say holding the games in Beijing would
encourage China to liberalize because of the intense attention that
the Olympics would focus on the country.
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