With only eight months to go to the Beijing Olympics 2008 China is winning a gold medal for human rights abuses. Promised improvements in freedom of speech and in the governments respect for human rights have turned into greater controls on journalists, forced evictions, imprisonment of AIDS & Democracy activists, continued persecution of religious practitioners and policies designed to erode the Tibetan national identity and suppress the freedoms of the Tibetan people.

The Olympic Game holds pride in this global tradition of always having ‘brought people together in peace to respect universal moral principles’ and featuring athletes from all over the world to promote the Olympic Spirit.  World Human Rights Day was time to remind the Chinese Government of their responsibilities.

London

To honour China for their illegal and brutal occupation of Tibet, we, the Tibetans and support groups presented an award ceremony to China and the IOC medals of dishonor. Medals were presented by Samphel la from Tibetan Community in Britain, Karma  la from TYUK and Pema from SFTUK.

Bronze to Mr. Jacques Rogge - the eighth President of the International Olympic Committee for awarding the 2008 Olympic games to the city of Beijing - the headquarters of the world's  the most brutal regime with  the worst human rights record.

The silver medal goes to Mr. Wen Jiabao - The Premier of the State Council of the People's Republic of China for being the head of a government with an appalling human rights record throughout China.

Finally the Gold medal and the crown for the worst Human rights award goes to Mr. Hu Jintao - the president of the People's Republic of China. Hu Jintao presided over Lhasa’s martial law in 1989 and is responsible for death of many Tibetans. During his tenure as head of Tibet, the 11^th Panchen Lama vanished, his whereabouts are still unknown.

Manchester

Activists from Manchester, Hull, Leeds and Huddersfield celebrated outside the Chinese Manchester Consulate on behalf of imprisoned Tibetan and Chinese people who are unable to.  Upon turning up, activists entered the consulate to wish everyone a happy human rights day. The activists friendly demeanour was not met in kind by the Chinese government representatives in the consulate. One Chinese official yelled 'This is an invasion!'

The activists, including Students for a Free Tibet, Leeds University Tibet Soc, Hull Human Rights Action, and Falun Gong practitioners continued chanting and distributing information before a Olympic Award Ceremony.

Gold medals for Human Rights Abuses and Repression of Religion were presented to Wen Jiabao, Hu Jintao and Liu Jianchao.

Hu, the President of China, is reported to have said, 'I'm honoured to receive this recognition for my blatant disrespect for the Human Rights of others. I like nothing better than to oppress Tibetans, Falun Gong practitioners, religious people and anyone who opposes me and my government. After years of hard work and the perfection of oppression, I can safely say I deserve these medals.'

Luke, of Students for a Free Tibet said 'As we approach the Beijing Olympics, it is clear that the Chinese government is playing games with human rights abuses. China's treatment of political prisoners, shootings of Tibetan refugees and repression of religions and ethnic minorities must end. Today, Tibet and human rights activists have gathered to pressurise the Chinese government to improve  its human rights record'.

Liam, of Hull Human Rights Action commented 'Not only does China repress it's own people, but also supports oppressive regimes in Sudan and Burma. China pledged to improve its human rights record by the Beijing Olympics, but instead has treated the Olympics as a licence for tyranny.'

Edinburgh

Edinburgh University Tibet Society and Students for a Free Tibet held a street party celebration for His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s Congressional Gold Medal in solidarity with the Tibetans inside Tibet who’s celebrations where disallowed.  The consulate was cordially invited along to the celebrations but nobody turned up.

On the street we handed out vouchers for free tea and cake to entice passing students to join the party and celebrate Happy Human Rights Day.  Lots of them did!

On Monday 3 December, Pete Speller, of the 'Great Wall Six' and Paul Golding, who was part of the Beijing Wide Open blog, spoke about their experiences in China to students at Warwick University. Pete was arrested and detained for 36 hours in a police station in Beijing after he and 5 other activists from Students For A Free Tibet unfurled a 450 sqft banner on the Great Wall of China reading "One World One Dream Free Tibet 2008" in English and Chinese. After being interrogated, intimidated and threatened with violence the "Great Wall Six" were deported to Hong Kong. Whilst Pete was hanging the banner Paul was with Executive Director of Students For A Free Tibet, Lhadon Tethong, in Beijing. They were blogging about the propaganda being put out by the Chinese goverment in the run up to the Olympics. After several tension filled days of constant surveilance by the Chinese Police, interviews with journalists and an attempted meeting with IOC president Jaque Roggue they were arrested. After their 12 hours in police custody, they were deported along with the others to Hong Kong.

After they told their stories, a lively question and answer session brought up some interesting debate about the Tibetan independance movement. One Chinese man, unhappy with hearing the truth about China, stormed out of the hall shouting "Tibet is part of China!" and ripping posters off the walls. Others were more happy to stay and debate the issues.

President of the Warwick SFT Group Ed Eden said "It was really great to have them here, people really seemed to enjoy the talk. Hopefully this will boost our membership."

If you would like Pete, Paul or anyone else from the SFT board to talk about the Olympics campaign email info@sftuk.org.