Beijing to set up zones for Olympic protests

BEIJING – Beijing will set up specially designated zones for protesters during next month’s Olympics, a security official said Wednesday, in a sign China’s authoritarian government may allow some demonstrations during the games.

Worries about terrorist attacks, both from international groups and Muslim separatists from western China, and about protests of any kind have prompted one of China’s broadest security clampdowns in years. The overall effect is that while Beijing looks cheerful, with colorful Olympic banners and new signs, the city feels tense.

Vehicle checkpoints ring Beijing and visa rules have been tightened to keep out foreign activists. Police have swept Beijing neighborhoods to remove Chinese who have come to the capital to complain about local government misdeeds, and known political critics and underground Christians have been told to leave.

But Liu Shaowu, director for security for the Beijing Olympic organizing committee, said Wednesday that areas in at least three public parks near outlying sporting venues have been set aside for use by demonstrators.

The remarks were the first public confirmation that Beijing may tolerate a modest amount of protest at an Olympics that the government hoped would be flawless, boosting its popularity at home and China’s image abroad.

“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.

It was not clear how easy it would be to enter the zones. Liu and Beijing police would not say if special permission would be needed. A human-rights campaigner criticized the move as cosmetic, and Beijing has already refused visa requests for known foreign activists.

A Beijinger whose restaurant was demolished in the city’s Olympic makeover and who was jailed for trying to organize a protest, Ye Guozhu, was taken from the Chaobai Prison on Tuesday to an unknown location, four days before he was due to be released, the monitoring group Chinese Human Rights Defenders said Wednesday. Police in Ye’s old neighborhood said they were not aware of the case.

Liu, the security official, said police were trying to strike a balance between the need for safety and the desire for festiveness.

“We truly do want to preserve the festive and joyful atmosphere of the Olympic Venues,” Liu told a news conference. “At the same time we want to reduce the impact security has on daily life.”