Beijing officials deny all protest applications at Olympics
Posted by ZA on August 19, 2008
In news that should not come as a surprise to anyone, it was reported that Beijing security officials did not approve any applications for protest during the 2008 Summer Olympics in China. The Chinese government Beijing security bureau already limited the locations that people could protest to parks on the outer limits of Beijing, which are miles from the Olympic green and venues.
They also required that any group that wanted to protest must submit an application. Now comes word that of the 77 protest applications that were submitted, all of them were denied by Beijing officials. 74 were withdrawn because the issues people wanted to protest on were supposedly addressed by government officials, two of the applications were listed as incomplete and returned to the people who submitted and only one application was directly refused by Beijing security officals because it was in violation of China’s laws on protests and demonstations.
So much for freedom of speech in China during the Summer Games. The Chinese government once again found a way to sequestor people’s voices, thereby avoiding any negative exposure while the entire World’s eyes were focused on their country.
