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"Free Tibet" banner unfurled from CCTV building

AFP

Activists hang a “Free Tibet” banner and Tibetan flags on top of a Beijing Olympics billboard during an unsanctioned protest.AP/Oded Balilty/China

The activists dropped the banner, which read “Free Tibet” in English and Chinese, over an Olympics billboard at 5:45 a.m. (2145 GMT Thursday), Students For a Free Tibet said in a statement.

Security officials gathered outside the China Central Television building and detained the five — an Australian-Canadian, a Briton and three Americans, the statement said. A photo was available on the website freetibet2008.org showing the action at the building, which has quickly become one of the city’s most iconic structures because of its bold, gravity-defying design.

The press office of the Beijing police issued a brief statement confirming that the five had carried out “activities violating Chinese law.”

“In accordance with law, police plans to shorten their stay in China and deport them under escort,” the statement said.

Students For a Free Tibet said the CCTV headquarters was “a gleaming new building for its official mouthpiece,” arguing that China’s “public relations strategy has become more sophisticated.”

“[But] the propaganda it uses to maintain its iron-fisted control over Tibet remains the same,” said group director Lhadon Tethong.

“Tibet supporters took action at CCTV today to broadcast a message of truth about the intensifying military crackdown in Tibet and the Tibetan people¢s undying resolve to regain their freedom.”

Activists critical of China’s rule of Tibet have staged a series of protests in Beijing to coincide with the Olympic Games.

On Wednesday, eight activists unfurled pro-Tibet banners and blocked the entrance to a park, causing a scuffle with police.

At least two protests have taken place in Tiananmen Square, including one on Saturday, when five foreigners staged a “mock die-in” draped in Tibetan flags on the north side of the square under the portrait of revolutionary leader Mao Zedong.

Last week three foreign pro-Tibet activists staged a brief protest near Beijing’s Olympic stadium, unfurling a Tibetan national flag one hour before the start of the opening ceremony for the Games.

Two days before the opening ceremony, four activists unfurled giant “Free Tibet” banners close to the stadium.

Copyright © 2008 Agence France Presse

Published in AFP