How is Beijing Planning to Handle Political Protests during the Olympic Games?
One of the most important issues for the upcoming Beijing Olympics is whether activists will attempt to carry out public protests and demonstrations, and how the Chinese authorities will react if they do. Many non-Chinese have been wondering if the Chinese authorities were so naïve about the attitude toward China in the West that they were taken by surprise by the protests during the international torch relay. The answer to this question appears to be: Yes. This even though Beijing’s bid for the 2008 Olympic Games had probably been the most politically-contested bid ever. In 2001 Moscow police arrested 21 anti-China protesters, including a Tibetan monk, in the two days leading up to the IOC vote on the 2008 host city. One measure of the lack of anticipation is the slowness with which public statements have emerged about how protests will be handled during the Olympic Games. Well after the torch relay uproar, on June 2, BOCOG released the “Legal Guidelines during the Olympic Games for F
