Pro-Tibetan activists unfurled a banner proclaiming "Free Tibet" over an Olympics poster at the headquarters of China's nationwide TV broadcaster today.
Members of Students for a Free Tibet displayed their banner for half an hour at China Central Television's new headquarters before police arrived and detained a number five activists. Philip Kirk (24) from Britan, and Nicole Rycroft (41), an Australian-Canadian, were among those detained today.
Beijing is sensitive to protests against its rule in Tibet, where security has been stepped up since riots in March. Friday's stunt came after five members of the same New York-based group chained their bicycles and blocked the entrance to another Beijing landmark, the Ethnic Culture Park.
Beijing, which has tightened security in the city to prevent such protests, says followers of the Dalai Lama, Tibet's exiled Buddhist leader, fomented protests and riots across the mountain region in March in a bid to derail the Olympics.
The Dalai Lama rejects those accusations.
Reuters