Tibetan activists plan to stage demonstrations during the Olympics

Tibetan activists announced on 1 August 2008 that they are planning to stage demonstrations in Beijing during the Olympic Games despite a government-imposed ban on all protests in unauthorized areas. The Students for a Free Tibet campaign group stated that protests have also been planned at numerous Chinese embassies and consulates around the world during the Olympic Games; the group did not specify what demonstrations were going to be held in Beijing due to the tight security surrounding the event. China’s communist government has stated that preapproved protests will be sanctioned at three parks in and around Beijing. The government has not made public the activist groups that will be allowed to protest.