CHINA
5 Tibet activists deported after protest
BEIJING (AP) — Five foreign activists were deported after they scaled a landmark building in Beijing on Friday to unfurl a “Free Tibet” banner over an Olympics billboard in the latest protest during the Games.
Students for a Free Tibet said the protesters — three Americans, a Briton and a Canadian — were detained by police after hanging the banner from the new headquarters of state-owned China Central Television, which is still under construction.
Britain’s Sky News shot footage of the protest, showing the helmeted activists draped in Tibetan nationalist flags and dangling from ropes as they hung the black-and-white banner about 20 feet off the ground. Police took down the banner.
The activists chose the CCTV building because it represents the government’s use of state media to spread propaganda, spokesman Kurt Langer said.
The Beijing Public Security Bureau said the protesters had “engaged in activities that violated Chinese law.”
