Two British graduates were at the heart of a pro-Tibetan protest yesterday that caused China deep embarrassment as it prepared for the opening of the Olympic Games.
Iain Thom, 24, from Edinburgh, and Lucy Fairbrother, 23, a graduate of Bristol University and the daughter of a former senior bursar at Trinity College, Cambridge, were arrested along with Phill Bartell, 34, from New Jersey, and Tirian Mink, 32, from Portland, Oregon. The Xinhua news agency said that the visas of all four had been revoked and that they would be deported.
Mr Thom and Mr Bartell climbed halfway up two 120ft pylons as dawn broke over the Bird’s Nest stadium that will host the opening ceremony tomorrow.
They unfurled Tibetan flags and two 140 sq ft banners, one of which read, “One World, One Dream, Free Tibet” — mimicking the “One World, One Dream” official Games slogan. Another called for a “Free Tibet” in English and Chinese.
Iain Thom, 24, from Edinburgh, and Lucy Fairbrother, 23, a graduate of Bristol University and the daughter of a former senior bursar at Trinity College, Cambridge, were arrested along with Phill Bartell, 34, from New Jersey, and Tirian Mink, 32, from Portland, Oregon. The Xinhua news agency said that the visas of all four had been revoked and that they would be deported.
Mr Thom and Mr Bartell climbed halfway up two 120ft pylons as dawn broke over the Bird’s Nest stadium that will host the opening ceremony tomorrow.
They unfurled Tibetan flags and two 140 sq ft banners, one of which read, “One World, One Dream, Free Tibet” — mimicking the “One World, One Dream” official Games slogan. Another called for a “Free Tibet” in English and Chinese.
The two lighting poles are just outside the high-security zone around the stadium. Although the protesters did not have to climb a fence or negotiate the airport-style security gates while carrying ropes and banners, the entire zone is patrolled by police and military personnel through the night.
The role of Ms Fairbrother and Mr Mink was to ensure that the climbers’ equipment was working safely and to protect them from members of the public who might try to intervene.
Footage of the protest appeared to have been taken at some distance from the climbers and their supporters, but there were no reports of any further arrests yesterday.
The Chinese Government has deployed 110,000 security personnel across the capital, including 34,000 People’s Liberation Army troops. It has also installed tens of thousands of surveillance cameras in what has been described as the most sophisticated security system for the Olympics.
Organisers of the Students for a Free Tibet group said that the climbers had remained in position for at least an hour after beginning their ascent at about 5.45am. Lhadon Tethong, executive director of the group, told The Times: “It took \ at least half an hour to figure out what was going on. Then they used fire trucks and ladders. The climbers came down peacefully and agreeably and met the security.”
Four hours after the protest, the organisation sent out an e-mail to journalists in Beijing trumpeting their actions, as well as a press release containing biographical details of the demonstrators. It also sent out an audio file of Mr Thom speaking from his mobile phone while still up the pole. He said that he was standing “in solidarity” with Tibetans who took to the streets of Lhasa in a violent protest against Chinese rule in March. The demonstrators set fire to hundreds of shops and offices in riots that killed at least 22 people, mainly ethnic Han Chinese. China has mounted a huge security operation across Tibetan areas to try to prevent further demonstrations.
Speaking from his phone about 60ft up the pylon before his arrest, Mr Thom said: “We did this action today to highlight the Chinese Government’s use of the Beijing Olympics as a propaganda tool for whitewashing their human rights record on Tibet.” Clinging to the pylon, between the stadium and the new National Swimming Centre, Mr Thom watched the security forces, including the People’s Armed Police, move into position.
“There is quite a lot of police about and a fire truck has just arrived. I’m a long-term Tibet supporter and I feel that now is a critical time for Tibet.”
The role of Ms Fairbrother and Mr Mink was to ensure that the climbers’ equipment was working safely and to protect them from members of the public who might try to intervene.
Footage of the protest appeared to have been taken at some distance from the climbers and their supporters, but there were no reports of any further arrests yesterday.
The Chinese Government has deployed 110,000 security personnel across the capital, including 34,000 People’s Liberation Army troops. It has also installed tens of thousands of surveillance cameras in what has been described as the most sophisticated security system for the Olympics.
Organisers of the Students for a Free Tibet group said that the climbers had remained in position for at least an hour after beginning their ascent at about 5.45am. Lhadon Tethong, executive director of the group, told The Times: “It took \ at least half an hour to figure out what was going on. Then they used fire trucks and ladders. The climbers came down peacefully and agreeably and met the security.”
Four hours after the protest, the organisation sent out an e-mail to journalists in Beijing trumpeting their actions, as well as a press release containing biographical details of the demonstrators. It also sent out an audio file of Mr Thom speaking from his mobile phone while still up the pole. He said that he was standing “in solidarity” with Tibetans who took to the streets of Lhasa in a violent protest against Chinese rule in March. The demonstrators set fire to hundreds of shops and offices in riots that killed at least 22 people, mainly ethnic Han Chinese. China has mounted a huge security operation across Tibetan areas to try to prevent further demonstrations.
Speaking from his phone about 60ft up the pylon before his arrest, Mr Thom said: “We did this action today to highlight the Chinese Government’s use of the Beijing Olympics as a propaganda tool for whitewashing their human rights record on Tibet.” Clinging to the pylon, between the stadium and the new National Swimming Centre, Mr Thom watched the security forces, including the People’s Armed Police, move into position.
“There is quite a lot of police about and a fire truck has just arrived. I’m a long-term Tibet supporter and I feel that now is a critical time for Tibet.”
The parents of the two Britons voiced pride at the protesters’ actions. Speaking from his home in Muir of Ord, near Inverness, Brian Thom, 53, said: “This was a peaceful exercise. There was no malice in any way.”
Iain Thom, who grew up in Muir of Ord and attended Dingwall Academy, graduated from Edinburgh University with a first-class degree in environmental geoscience two years ago. He has been a campaigner for Friends of the Earth. His father added: “He was very passionate about this and we are right behind him.”
Ms Fairbrother first became involved in the Free Tibet movement while a student at Hills Road Sixth Form College in Cambridge, her family said yesterday. Her best friend there was Peter Speller, an ardent pro-Tibet activist who would himself eventually end up in trouble with the Chinese authorities a few years later.
Peter’s father, Kim Speller, said it was his family’s fault that she became a passionate champion of the Free Tibet cause. “Lucy got interested when she was at sixth-form college with Pete and it’s down to us,” Mr Speller said. ”We’re longstanding Tibetophiles. Peter was brought up with Tibet as wallpaper on the walls."
Iain Thom, who grew up in Muir of Ord and attended Dingwall Academy, graduated from Edinburgh University with a first-class degree in environmental geoscience two years ago. He has been a campaigner for Friends of the Earth. His father added: “He was very passionate about this and we are right behind him.”
Ms Fairbrother first became involved in the Free Tibet movement while a student at Hills Road Sixth Form College in Cambridge, her family said yesterday. Her best friend there was Peter Speller, an ardent pro-Tibet activist who would himself eventually end up in trouble with the Chinese authorities a few years later.
Peter’s father, Kim Speller, said it was his family’s fault that she became a passionate champion of the Free Tibet cause. “Lucy got interested when she was at sixth-form college with Pete and it’s down to us,” Mr Speller said. ”We’re longstanding Tibetophiles. Peter was brought up with Tibet as wallpaper on the walls."
Mr Speller was arrested in China a year ago after he unfurled a banner on the Great Wall and was deported a few days later.
It was not until she paid a visit to Tibet while teaching on her gap year in Nepal four years ago that Ms Fairbrother’s interest developed into a deep-seated desire to take a stand herself. At Bristol University she took the first oppostunity to join a Tibet support group. “She's no champagne socialist — she’s been there and seen things with her own eyes,” said her mother, Linda, 58.
Speaking from her home in Cambridge, she said: “I am very proud that Lucy is getting involved with something like this. It’s a good cause for human rights and for democracy. It’s also a totally non-violent movement. The protesters are not saying they hate the Chinese or the Government, but are just trying to bring some very dire human rights abuses to the world’s attention. If my daughter’s going to be put in prison for anything I’m glad it’s for a human rights protest.”
Ms Fairbrother has an older sister Laura, 24, a primary school teacher, and a brother, Edmund, 19, a student. Her father is Jeremy Fairbrother, the former senior bursar of Trinity College and a director of the multimillion-pound Cambridge Science Park. Her mother is a reporter and presenter for Anglia TV news.
All four protesters were travelling on valid tourist visas, but it was not clear where the visas had been issued and members of the group were tightlipped about their methods.
The display of defiance within yards of the main Olympic venue is a blow to China’s security operation, which has included limiting visas for tourists and businessmen. Those restrictions have been imposed despite the impact on hotel reservations and factory orders because the authorities have been determined to prevent the entry of activists bent on using the Games to publicise the situation in Tibet.
Sun Weide, a spokesman for the Beijing Olympic organising committee, said: “As far as we know, four foreigners gathered illegally and we express our strong opposition to that. We firmly oppose any attempt to politicise the Olympic Games. We have related laws in China. We expect foreigners to respect those laws.”
A spokesman from the British Embassy said that the Foreign and Commonwealth Office was aware of the arrest of the Britons and that they were being held by the Beijing city police. “We are in touch with the Chinese authorities and requesting immediate consular access.”
It was not until she paid a visit to Tibet while teaching on her gap year in Nepal four years ago that Ms Fairbrother’s interest developed into a deep-seated desire to take a stand herself. At Bristol University she took the first oppostunity to join a Tibet support group. “She's no champagne socialist — she’s been there and seen things with her own eyes,” said her mother, Linda, 58.
Speaking from her home in Cambridge, she said: “I am very proud that Lucy is getting involved with something like this. It’s a good cause for human rights and for democracy. It’s also a totally non-violent movement. The protesters are not saying they hate the Chinese or the Government, but are just trying to bring some very dire human rights abuses to the world’s attention. If my daughter’s going to be put in prison for anything I’m glad it’s for a human rights protest.”
Ms Fairbrother has an older sister Laura, 24, a primary school teacher, and a brother, Edmund, 19, a student. Her father is Jeremy Fairbrother, the former senior bursar of Trinity College and a director of the multimillion-pound Cambridge Science Park. Her mother is a reporter and presenter for Anglia TV news.
All four protesters were travelling on valid tourist visas, but it was not clear where the visas had been issued and members of the group were tightlipped about their methods.
The display of defiance within yards of the main Olympic venue is a blow to China’s security operation, which has included limiting visas for tourists and businessmen. Those restrictions have been imposed despite the impact on hotel reservations and factory orders because the authorities have been determined to prevent the entry of activists bent on using the Games to publicise the situation in Tibet.
Sun Weide, a spokesman for the Beijing Olympic organising committee, said: “As far as we know, four foreigners gathered illegally and we express our strong opposition to that. We firmly oppose any attempt to politicise the Olympic Games. We have related laws in China. We expect foreigners to respect those laws.”
A spokesman from the British Embassy said that the Foreign and Commonwealth Office was aware of the arrest of the Britons and that they were being held by the Beijing city police. “We are in touch with the Chinese authorities and requesting immediate consular access.”
Tension over the security situation has increased after the terrorist attack in the restive Xinjiang region of western China on Monday, when 16 police were killed and 16 wounded. The Chinese have blamed Muslim separatist groups. China has stepped up its monitoring of members of the Uighur ethnic minority in Xinjiang, requiring many to leave Beijing for the duration of the Games amid fears of attacks in the capital. Tibetans, too, have come under intense scrutiny.
Dechen Pemba, a British woman of Tibetan ethnicity, was deported last month without reason, while an Indian Buddhist monk has been refused entry to Hong Kong.
Many Beijing roads were closed yesterday while the torch relay, dogged by protests overseas, snaked its way through Tiananmen Square. The protest banners were unfurled in early morning smog above the “dragon’s vein”, the ancient north-south axis that bisects Beijing and which will be lit up by fireworks on Friday evening.
Ms Tethong said: “At this very moment, Tibetans are facing the most severe and violent repression they have seen in decades at the hands of the Chinese government, and we have taken non-violent action at this critical time to draw the world’s attention to the crisis gripping Tibet.
“Days before the Olympic Games begin, and as all eyes turn to China, we appeal to the world to remember that millions of Tibetans are crying out for human rights and freedom.”
Ropes, banners - and visas
— The protest action was a “banner drop”, a long-time favourite in the protest movement
— Mark Wright, training committee chairman of the Industrial Rope Access Trade Association, who also trains Greenpeace activists, said that the protesters had used an advanced technique using two slings tied with a prussik knot
— “The climber will be attached with a harness to both of them. He will have a foot loop of some sort attached to both slings, he will put his weight on one loop while he inches the other upwards. That equipment is easily available in China and you could quite plausibly claim you needed it for a climbing trip,” Mr Wright said
— Each year Students for a Free Tibet holds conferences to train its members in “protest skills”. These include climbing, and the technological knowhow to capture and download video clips and photographs of their actions Activists are also schooled in making sure their demonstrations attract sufficient media attention.
— Teams are assembled with climbing specialists and those able to record and transmit images of their protest
— Tenzin Dorjee, 28, the deputy director of the movement, was part of a similar protest staged at Everest Base Camp in the Tibetan region in April last year, to coincide with a rehearsal of the Everest leg of China’s Olympic torch relay. He described how the demonstration was painstakingly executed by a five-person team. He said: “We had three unfurling the banner, one taking the picture. A fifth person was sending the images from a computer”
— Almost as great a challenge for the activists was the process of obtaining a tourist visa to enter China. Since April, applicants have been vetted via computer search engines for links to protest groups.
Dechen Pemba, a British woman of Tibetan ethnicity, was deported last month without reason, while an Indian Buddhist monk has been refused entry to Hong Kong.
Many Beijing roads were closed yesterday while the torch relay, dogged by protests overseas, snaked its way through Tiananmen Square. The protest banners were unfurled in early morning smog above the “dragon’s vein”, the ancient north-south axis that bisects Beijing and which will be lit up by fireworks on Friday evening.
Ms Tethong said: “At this very moment, Tibetans are facing the most severe and violent repression they have seen in decades at the hands of the Chinese government, and we have taken non-violent action at this critical time to draw the world’s attention to the crisis gripping Tibet.
“Days before the Olympic Games begin, and as all eyes turn to China, we appeal to the world to remember that millions of Tibetans are crying out for human rights and freedom.”
Ropes, banners - and visas
— The protest action was a “banner drop”, a long-time favourite in the protest movement
— Mark Wright, training committee chairman of the Industrial Rope Access Trade Association, who also trains Greenpeace activists, said that the protesters had used an advanced technique using two slings tied with a prussik knot
— “The climber will be attached with a harness to both of them. He will have a foot loop of some sort attached to both slings, he will put his weight on one loop while he inches the other upwards. That equipment is easily available in China and you could quite plausibly claim you needed it for a climbing trip,” Mr Wright said
— Each year Students for a Free Tibet holds conferences to train its members in “protest skills”. These include climbing, and the technological knowhow to capture and download video clips and photographs of their actions Activists are also schooled in making sure their demonstrations attract sufficient media attention.
— Teams are assembled with climbing specialists and those able to record and transmit images of their protest
— Tenzin Dorjee, 28, the deputy director of the movement, was part of a similar protest staged at Everest Base Camp in the Tibetan region in April last year, to coincide with a rehearsal of the Everest leg of China’s Olympic torch relay. He described how the demonstration was painstakingly executed by a five-person team. He said: “We had three unfurling the banner, one taking the picture. A fifth person was sending the images from a computer”
— Almost as great a challenge for the activists was the process of obtaining a tourist visa to enter China. Since April, applicants have been vetted via computer search engines for links to protest groups.
The London Times, August 7th, 2008
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