Boycotting but ...

I won't be watching, not even when my country's athletes are competing. I plans to unplug my home cable tv and radio for the duration of the games and depends solely on dvd and internet for my entertainments and news.

I have nothing against athletes participating for they had trained very hard and sacrificed for their sports. I wishes them all the best, especially the Iraqi who nearly did not make it .... stupid IOC.

I pray for the reporters and media personnel, may you not get into too much trouble with the CCP and don't get imprisoned or killed.

I pray for the protesters still in China. I don't know how much you hope to achieve with your sacrifices when the IOC, UN and governments around the world are deaf, blind and mute.

Beijing Special Protest Zones - SHAM

Beijing pulls yet another fast one on the world. It's not the first and definitely won't be the last... how naive do they think we are.

“They said that in order to maintain stability they would certainly not approve our protest,” said Zhang Wei, a group member whose home was levelled two years ago to make way for an upmarket retail and residential complex.

Beijing gags Olympic protests

Hells Square - 1989 or 2009

Will there be a repeat performance after the Shame & Sham Games in Beijing (or in 2009)?

Britons held in Beijing protest

Two Britons have been held in Beijing after a protest about Tibet as the Olympic torch toured the city.

Olympic protest outside of Vancouver, B.C.'s Chinese consulate building

Protestors blocked the entrance to the consulate office with a replica tank.

Police in China detain, beat Japanese reporters; Reuters staffer threatened

Japan’s Kyodo News Agency reported today that police in Kashgar dragged Masami Kawakita, a photographer from the Chunichi Shimbun newspaper's Tokyo headquarters, and Shinji Katsuta, a reporter for Nippon Television Network’s China general bureau, from a spot near the explosions that killed 16 police officers on Monday.

The two journalists suffered slight injuries. Kyodo reported that “police forcibly disrupted the Japanese journalists’ reporting activities near the base, took them to a room in a nearby hotel, and beat them before releasing them two hours later, according to people with knowledge of the situation.”

Reuters reported that its correspondent in Kashgar, Emma Graham-Harrison, was driven away from the attack scene by baton-wielding policemen. Reuters said she was not injured and continues to report from Kashgar.

© 2008 Committee to Protect Journalists

IOC admits Internet censorship deal with China

Some International Olympic Committee officials cut a deal to let China block sensitive Web sites despite promises of unrestricted access, a senior IOC official admitted.

"I regret that it now appears BOCOG has announced that there will be limitations on Web site access during Games time," IOC press chief Kevan Gosper said, referring to Beijing's Olympic organizers.

"I also now understand that some IOC officials negotiated with the Chinese that some sensitive sites would be blocked on the basis they were not considered Games related," he said.

Reporters without Borders, a Paris-based media watchdog, said it was increasingly concerned that there would be many cases of censorship during the Olympics.

"We condemn the IOC's failure to do anything about this, and we are more skeptical about its ability to ensure that the media are able to report freely," the group said in a statement.

Chinese officials assured news organizations "complete freedom to report" when bidding for the games seven years ago. The International Olympic Committee received further such assurances in April. But Kevan Gosper, a senior member of the IOC, said this week that the promise will apply only to sites related to "Olympic competitions."

IOC President Jacques Rogge had insisted that no deal had been struck with Beijing Olympics organisers to censor internet sites.