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Five Tibet activists detained on Tiananmen Square

AFP

Police try to take away a Tibetan Flag from a Free Tibet activist Padma-Dolma Fielitz.SFT handout

Two of the protesters, including a Tibetan woman from Germany, Padma-Dolma Fielitz, held the Tibetan flag just outside the southern entrance of the square in central Beijing, Students for a Free Tibet said in a statement.

As Chinese security guards tried to take the flag away, Fielitz, 21, was seen being dragged across the ground, the organisation said.

Three other activists then tried to unveil a banner that read ‘Tibetans are dying for freedom,’ before they were taken away, the group said.

All five protesters — Fielitz, two Americans and two Canadians — were detained and their whereabouts were unknown, the group said.

Students for a Free Tibet also said five Canadian activists were being detained at their hotel in east Beijing and questioned in the basement.

A spokesman for the Beijing public security bureau was unable to comment immediately on the two incidents.

Pro-Tibet activists have staged a series of protests in Beijing and around the world to coincide with the Olympic Games and to highlight what they say is Chinese repression in Tibet.

Five activists were deported yesterday for protesting on Tiananmen Square, and last week protesters also unfurled a 140-foot banner near the main Olympic stadium.

Tibetan dissidents complain of ongoing political and religious repression by China, while Beijing maintains it has helped the region to develop the Himalayan region.

Copyright © 2008 Agence France Presse

Published in OutLookIndia.com