Tue Aug 19, 2008

By Emma Graham-Harrison

BEIJING (Reuters) - The loudest songs to trouble official ears in Beijing's Olympic "protest parks" are those of sparrows. The only shouts those of amateur badminton players.

Activists unfurled a ''Free Tibet'' banner and Tibetan flags Friday in Beijing on top of an Olympics billboard. (Oded Balilty/Associated Press)

China said in July it had set up three demonstration zones to counter criticism Beijing is crushing human rights to prevent disruptions to the meticulously planned Olympics.

The only condition was that would-be protesters had to a apply for a protest permit five days in advance.

But as the end of the Games approaches, not a single permit has been issued and park managers have not even made plans for handling demonstrators, because they do not expect any.

At least one would-be protester was even arrested after applying for a protest permit, a human rights group said.

"We will make arrangements about where to hold the protest once the police notified us that one has been approved," said a man surnamed Dong, who works at Ritan Park, an altar to the sun in imperial China and one of the three designated protest zones.

"It has all been calm so far, we have not heard anything."

Seventy-seven applications have been lodged since August 1 to hold what would be the first legal, independent protests in tightly controlled China for decades, state media said on Monday.

None was approved.

Most applicants wanted to raise labor, medical and welfare issues -- chronic problems in China.

Protesters willing to risk the ire of Communist authorities by bringing them up while the country is celebrating the Olympics would likely have deep and long-standing grievances.

Fortunately for Olympic officials, however, 74 people resolved their problems after applying to protest, state media reported. The other three did not meet regulations.

PUBLICITY STUNT, TRAP?

That they managed to apply at all was impressive. A visit to two police stations during the Olympics to try to secure one of the forms met blank stares and a range of excuses.

"Actually someone did come here to apply to protest, with a form, but I don't know where he got it from," said one officer, peering through the iron gate of a locked station.

Five foreigners were detained over a 'Free Tibet' protest in Beijing (AP photo)

"We don't have any forms here...we can't give any to foreigners," he added.

The most visible protesters at the Games have been by a group opposed to China's rule in Tibet, who hung a Tibetan flag on the Olympic Green and unfurled a banner near the new state television headquarters, ignoring the protest parks altogether.

"We didn't even consider applying for a second because for us it is clear that the protest zones are just part of China's cynical public relations tactic," said Lhadon Tethong Executive Director of Students for a Free Tibet.

One foreign rights group has warned that more than a publicity stunt, the protest zones are a trap for dissidents.

"The protest application process clearly isn't about giving people greater freedom of expression, but making it easier for the police to suppress it," said Sophie Richardson, Asia advocacy director at Human Rights Watch.

The group said legal activist Ji Sizun, from southern Fujian province, was taken into custody when he went to a police station to check whether there had been any progress on his application for a protest permit to denounce corruption and demand greater political participation for ordinary Chinese.

(Editing by Nick Macfie)

(For more stories visit our multimedia website "2008 Summer Olympics" here; and see our blog at blogs.reuters.com/china)