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China parades torch on Wall, deports critics

China paraded the Olympic torch along its ancient Great Wall yesterday — a day before the opening of the Games in which Beijing wants to showcase its modern face but which have also galvanized global protests over human rights.

Doves flew and confetti rained down on the flame as runners carried it over the Wall’s mist-shrouded ramparts at daybreak in a tradition dating back to the 1936 Berlin Olympics.

The torch will enter the “Bird’s Nest” stadium today for the opening ceremony of the 16-day Olympics.

En route to China, US President George W. Bush used some of his bluntest language yet in criticizing China’s human rights record.

And more than 40 athletes competing in the Beijing Olympics have urged China to peacefully settle contention over Tibet and protect freedom of religion and opinion, rights groups said, raising pressure on the Games host.

Across China, excitement has built as the tortuous and troubled torch relay draws to a close and the nation prepares for the Olympics’ most expensive opening ceremony. The Games have cost Beijing a total of US$40 billion.

Officially organized but wildly excited crowds cheered the torch through Beijing this week in images China hopes will erase memories of the Tibet protests on its international tour.

“There have been problems with the torch — but now is the time for the party!” said Weng Chengyu, a 28-year-old student among the dancing, singing crowds on the Great Wall.

Smog and sweltering heat remain a concern for athletes, though neither are unique to Beijing. Skies were hazy again yesterday, but authorities, who spent US$18 billion on cleanup moves, said air quality was fairly good.

China’s 228cm basketball player Yao Ming (姚明) will carry the host nation’s flag at the ceremony. The two Koreas have failed to agree a joint march, as they did in 2000 and 2004.

Undeterred by a 100,000-strong security force in Beijing, small groups of protesters have popped up this week to demonstrate over Tibet, abortion and animal rights.

In the latest, plainclothes security officials dragged away three Christian activists from the US yesterday after they attempted to protest for religious freedom in Tiananmen Square.

In Hong Kong, authorities deported three Chinese democracy activists based in the US after denying them entry to the territory, a local lawmaker said yesterday.

There was no official confirmation of the deportations, though an official said the government doesn’t want people to come to Hong Kong and “damage the dignity” of the Olympic Games.

Yang Jianli (楊建利), Wang Min (汪岷) and Zhou Jian (周建) arrived on Wednesday at Hong Kong airport ahead of a conference in Taiwan but weren’t allowed to enter, opposition lawmaker Albert Ho (何俊仁) said.

Ho said immigration authorities didn’t explain why they denied the activists entry.

Ho said he wasn’t sure if the activists had planned to protest in Hong Kong, which is hosting the Olympic equestrian events.

Zhou was deported to the US, Wang to Taiwan and Yang was being sent to New York via Tokyo, Ho said.

Yang, a Chinese citizen with a US green card, only returned to the US last year after serving a five-year prison term in China on charges of spying for Taiwan and entering the country illegally.

Wang is a US citizen, which should entitle him to 90 days’ visa-free access to Hong Kong. Ho said he wasn’t clear on Zhou’s citizenship.

The trio were allowed to enter Hong Kong in the past, Ho said.

Two British and two US activists who staged a dramatic pro-Tibet protest near the Olympic stadium in Beijing have been deported from China, their campaign group said in a statement yesterday.

The four, who on Wednesday unfurled giant “Free Tibet” banners close to the stadium where the Olympics will open, were expected to arrive back in the US and Britain shortly, Students for a Free Tibet said in an e-mailed statement.

Chinese police arrested the four after the stunt and deported them back to San Francisco and London, the group said.
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