Protesters deported from China

China today deported a British woman and a German man who took part in a protest during the Olympic Games.

Mandy McKeown and Florien Norbu Gyanatshang were put on flights to Frankfurt this morning, said officials from the British Embassy in Beijing and the Foreign Ministry in Berlin.

McKeown, 41, and Gyanatshang, 30, were part of a group of four who last week unfurled a Tibetan flag and shouted “Free Tibet” south of the National Stadium, one of the main Olympics venues.

The group, which also included Americans Jeremy Wells and John Watterberg, was taken away by security agents.

Last night, Wells and Watterberg were part of a group of eight Americans who were sent home after Washington expressed disappointment that the Olympics did not bring more “openness and tolerance” in China.

The blunt US criticism – and China’s harsher treatment of foreign activists - came at the end of 17 days of Olympic competition that generally went smoothly for Chinese organisers who had been nervous about security and protests.

No rallies were held throughout the entire Olympics in three parks designated as protest zones after Chinese officials declined to issue permits to 77 applicants, and detained some of them. But mostly foreign activists staged a series of small illegal demonstrations near Olympic venues and at Beijing landmarks.

The foreigners mostly unveiled “Free Tibet” banners before being seized by security officials, hustled into cars and taken away to be put on flights out of China.

A handful of journalists trying to cover the protests were roughed up by authorities then released. There were also tensions with the media over China restricting access to the Internet.

Beijing had promised the media freedom to report the games and announced the protest parks as part of efforts to address criticism that China should not have been awarded the games because of its human rights record and tight controls on internal dissent.

The White House said in a statement that eight individuals – James Powderly, Brian Conley, Jeffrey Rae, Jeff Goldin, Michael Liss, Tom Grant, Wells and Watterberg – were deported by Chinese authorities at 9pm last night on a China Air flight to Los Angeles.

Ambassador Clark T Randt Jr. had pressed the Chinese government on Saturday to immediately release the eight.

“We encourage the government of China to demonstrate respect for human rights, including freedom of expression and freedom of religion, of all people during the Olympic Games and beyond,” said a US Embassy statement.

“We are disappointed that China has not used the occasion of the Olympics to demonstrate greater tolerance and openness,” it said.

In his wrap up news conference yesterday, International Olympic Committee president Jacques Rogge said the games had helped to open up China.

But Rogge also said the IOC “found it unusual” that none of the applications lodged to hold protests during the games succeeded.

He said IOC officials discussed with games organisers the case of two elderly Chinese women who were ordered to spend a year in a labour camp after applying to protest, though the women were still at home under surveillance. The IOC was told it was a matter of Chinese law.

Several members of another group that sought permission to protest about corruption during the games were detained in a room for 48 hours by Chinese authorities before being deported home to Hong Kong, group spokesman Xiao Yuzhen said.

During the games, Beijing organisers were consistently pressed by journalists about people’s right to dissent but they routinely deferred comment by trying to focus on sports rather than politics.

In the first week of the games, several foreign protesters were put on flights out the country within days of being detained. But in the final week, at least 10 foreigners were ordered detained for 10 days under rules that allow officials to hold them without charge for up to 14 days.