OLYMPICS-SWITZERLAND/PROTEST-CHINA China condemns Tibet olympics protesters, says won't shake bid resolve

Record ID: 150908

  • Title: OLYMPICS-SWITZERLAND/PROTEST-CHINA China condemns Tibet olympics protesters, says won't shake bid resolve
  • Date: 11th June 2015
  • Summary: BEIJING, CHINA (JUNE 11, 2015) (REUTERS) CHINESE FOREIGN MINISTRY SPOKESMAN, HONG LEI, WALKING IN FOR REGULAR NEWS CONFERENCE JOURNALISTS SEATED (SOUNDBITE) (Mandarin) CHINESE FOREIGN MINISTRY SPOKESMAN, HONG LEI, SAYING: "These people were deliberately provocative. Their behaviour will not shake the resolve of the Chinese government and people to apply for the host of the
  • Embargoed: 26th June 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: China
  • Country: China
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVAD8I30Q6I0227YQ8WZLEYVMUEP
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: China's Foreign Ministry on Thursday (June 11) condemned pro-Tibet demonstrators who burst into a news event where the bid committee applying to host the 2022 Winter Games in Beijing was holding a presentation.
    The protest on Wednesday (June 9) in Lausanne, Switzerland, could be the first of many such demonstrations and be a public-relations headache for China if Beijing wins the bid to host the event.
    Three Tibetans disrupted a presentation of Beijing's 2022 bid plans to the media, according to the International Tibet Network, a Tibetan advocacy group.
    Video footage showed one protester being dragged away by security officers as he shouted: "Stop Beijing 2022. No more bloody games again. IOC, don't make the same mistake again."
    Protesters held a banner with the Olympic rings displayed as bullet holes, while a woman wore a t-shirt covered in fake blood.
    "These people were deliberately provocative. Their behaviour will not shake the resolve of the Chinese government and its people to apply for the host of the winter Olympic Games in Beijing," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei told a daily news briefing.
    Beijing's bid committee did not respond to a request for comment.
    Activists have already expressed concern about the possibility Beijing will win, with Tibetan groups saying that China's rights record disqualifies it.
    Chinese President Xi Jinping has overseen a broad crackdown on the country's rights community since he took office in 2013, in what some groups call the worst suppression of dissent in two decades.
    The International Olympic Committee (IOC) said last year it would include human rights clauses in new contracts to be signed by future Olympic host cities, strengthening its anti-discrimination policy.
    China had provided the IOC with "written assurances" of its respect for human rights, an Olympic panel said in a report earlier this month.
    Beijing is competing with Almaty, Kazakhstan, in its bid to host the 2022 Games. The IOC will pick the winner next month.
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