China will allow Olympic protests but only in special zones far from sports arenas

Enlarge Photo China will allow Olympic protests but only in special zones far from sports arenas

Thu, Jul 24 05:34 AM

BEIJING (AP) _ China will allow a modicum of dissent at the Olympics, setting up special protest zones far from the main sports venues, in a shift that supporters and detractors said is meant to safely channel criticism and avoid disrupting the games. The designated protest areas will be in parts of three public parks, none of them closer than several miles (kilometers) from the main Olympic stadium.

One zone is in a park that features large-scale mock-ups of the White House and other world monuments, raising the prospect that protesters will appear to be elsewhere in televised images and news photos. In making the announcement Wednesday, the Beijing Olympic organizing committee's security director, Liu Shaowu, cited the use of protest areas at the 2004 Athens Olympics.

"People or protesters who want to express their personal opinions can go to do so," Liu told reporters. The move, however, doesn't mean Beijing is inviting a flood of protests at the games that start on Aug.

8. Liu suggested demonstrators would need to apply for permission in advance.

Tightened visa checks have prevented or deterred foreign groups like the Committee to Protect Journalists from coming to Beijing, although actor Mia Farrow's Dream for Darfur said its visa application was pending. Overseas broadcasters, such as NBC which paid hundreds of millions of dollars to air the games, are still wrangling with organizers over restrictions on live coverage around the city.

"Until it begins, we will not know how the officials and police will react," said John Barton, director of sport for the Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union, which represents broadcasters in 57 countries. "It's a lottery.

" Beijing is now ringed with police checkpoints, designed to keep out bomb-making materials, would-be terrorists and domestic protesters, and dotted with half-empty hotels. But it is also festooned with banners, creating an odd mixture of festiveness and tension.

Still, the decision to permit even small demonstrations marks a turnaround for an authoritarian government that has seemed set on smothering any protests at an Olympics it wants to be a flawless celebration of a friendly, modern China. "This will allow people to protest without disrupting the Olympics," said Ni Jianping, director of the Shanghai Institute of American Studies, who lobbied Chinese leaders to set up the protest zones.

"We're giving people a platform to express their views." While protests have become common throughout China from workers upset about factory layoffs to farmers angry about land confiscation the communist leadership remains wary about large demonstrations, fearing they could snowball into widespread anti-government movements.

Three violent protests have occurred in far-flung provinces in recent weeks. ___ Associated Press reporters Stephen Wade in Beijing and Lily Hindy in New York contributed to this report.

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