Protesters in China released from custody

Eight Tibet independence activists detained in China this week -- including three Canadians -- have been released, a spokesperson for their group said this morning.

“We just had a call from Lhadon Tethong, the one who was detained last night, saying they were all being put on a plane to Hong Kong,” said Freya Putt of Students For a Free Tibet. “We’re not counting on it until we actually see them on that plane, but we should know for sure in about three hours.”

The New York-based Students for a Free Tibet said at about 12 p.m. ET Wednesday that it received a call from witnesses who said the activists — Lhadon Tethong, Sam Price and Melanie Raoul — had been released in Beijing and deported. But it was unclear where they were deported to.

Parents of two Vancouverites said Tuesday evening they are very worried about the safety of the pair after the Chinese government seized six activitists who were protesting on the Great Wall against the Chinese presence in Tibet.

The protesters unfurled a 42-square-metre banner reading "One World, One Dream, Free Tibet 2008" in English and Chinese from the Great Wall.

"Chinese authorities removed the activists after two hours; their current whereabouts are unknown," the group Students for a Free Tibet (SFT) said in a news release on Tuesday.

"One World, One Dream" is the motto for the 2008 Beijing Olympics, which opens in a year's time.

The protesters were on the Wall for about two hours before being detained and taken away, the group said. No other details were immediately available and China's Foreign Ministry said it could not comment.

The six activists staged the demonstration for two hours before they were taken away by the Chinese authorities, SFT reported.

Melanie Raoul (Vancouver, Canada), Sam Price (Vancouver, Canada), Leslie Kaup (South St. Paul, Minnesota), Nupur Modi (Oakland, California), Duane Martinez (Sausalito, California) and Pete Speller (Cambridge, UK) are six of them.

The pro-Independence group for Tibet has no clue about their current whereabouts.

This is the independence group’s second such surprising protest.

During the demonstration, the protesters were communicating by cellphone with colleagues and even uploaded video of themselves unfurling the banner using a laptop computer. Within minutes, the clip was posted by other members on YouTube.

Tenzin Dorjee, deputy director of Students for a Free Tibet, said in the statement that China was 'exploiting the Olympics to gain acceptance as a world leader.'

'By protesting at the Great Wall, the most recognizable symbol of Chinese nationhood, we're sending a clear message that China's dream of international leadership cannot be realized as long as it continues its brutal occupation of Tibet,' Tenzin Dorjee said.

The protest was also directed at the IOC for 'failing to fulfil its commitment to hold the Chinese government accountable with regards to its human rights record,' the statement said.

According to Foreign Affairs spokesman Bernard Nguyen, the Canadian embassy in Beijing has asked Chinese authorities for confirmation that two Canadians have been arrested in connection with the protest, but have received no reply. "If they have indeed been arrested, then we will seek immediate consular access," Mr. Nguyen said late yesterday from Ottawa.

In the past, China has quickly deported Westerners who stage protests on Chinese soil, but Dr. Price and Mr. Raoul are worried that the audacious nature of this action - staged on the country's greatest historic attraction and connected to the coming Olympics - could prompt a harsher response.

"The Great Wall is a very symbolic icon of China," Mr. Raoul said. "Are they going to get fed up and react in an irrational way? Or will they be mellowed by the fact the Olympics are coming and they can't afford a scandal? It's a hard country to read, but I think it would be cruel to keep the two of them in jail."

- Tibetans and their supporters worldwide will take part in a Global Day of Action today.

- A local event is slated for the Vancouver Art Gallery at 11 a.m. before marching to the Chinese consulate.

Another Canadian has been detained in China relating to protests surrounding Tibetan freedom.

Lhadon Tethong, the executive director of Students for a Free Tibet, was detained by Chinese police early Wednesday, after a steady blogging campaign in recent days, said organization spokeswoman Kate Woznow.

Tenzin Dorjee, deputy director of Students for a Free Tibet, told CBC News that at about 2 a.m. ET Tethong was on her cellphone with the group when Chinese security personnel came and took her away.

"Since then we haven't heard anything from her and we don't know exactly where she's being kept right now," he said.

A Tibetan woman born and raised in Canada, Lhadon Tethong has traveled the world, working to build a powerful youth movement for Tibetan independence. She has spoken to countless groups about the situation in Tibet, most notably to a crowd of 66,000 at the 1998 Tibetan Freedom Concert in Washington, D.C. She first became involved with Students for a Free Tibet (SFT) in 1996, when she founded a chapter at University of King’s College in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Since then, Lhadon has been a leading force in many strategic campaigns, including the unprecedented victory against China’s World Bank project in 2000.

Local authorities have imposed a deadline in an effort to clear a growing protest by Tibetan nomads outside government offices in southwestern China.

Protesters have issued three specific demands of authorities in Sichuan Province, including the release of a detained protester, religious freedom and the right to hear teachings from the Dalai Lama, and the release of a revered Tibetan monk as well as all other prisoners, according to a caller from the Kham region.

"Without responding to the demands of the Tibetan protestors, officials threatened that if the protests were withdrawn by tomorrow, they would provide transportation home. If [protesters] do not leave by 8:00 A.M. on August 8, 2007, the People’s Republic of China will crush [them]." said another caller from Kham to RFA’s Tibetan service.