Protesters disrupt flame-lighting for Beijing Winter Olympics
ANCIENT OLYMPIA, Greece — Three activists protesting human rights abuses in China sneaked into the archaeological site where the flame-lighting ceremony for the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics was being held Monday and ran toward the newly lighted torch holding a Tibetan flag and a banner that read: “No genocide games.â€
The protesters managed to enter the grounds and attempted to reach the ancient Temple of Hera, where the ceremony was being held. They were thrown to the ground by police and detained.
“How can Beijing be allowed to host the Olympics given that they are committing a genocide against the Uyghurs?†one protester said as she ran toward the temple.
The flame was lighted under heavy police security at the Greek birthplace of the ancient Olympics.
With the public excluded amid pandemic safety measures, and a cloudless sky over the verdant site of Ancient Olympia, the flame was ceremonially kindled using the rays of the sun before being carried off on a mini torch relay.
NHL players will participate in the 2022 Beijing Games, per an agreement by the league, NHL Players’ Assn. and the International Ice Hockey Federation.
Earlier, other protesters were detained by Greek police before they could reach the site. Pro-democracy protests also had broken out during the flame-lighting ceremony for the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics.
Despite widespread international criticism of China’s human rights record, the International Olympic Committee has shied away from the issue, saying that it falls outside its purview.
In his speech in the ancient stadium of Olympia, where in antiquity male athletes competed naked during a special truce among their often-warring cities, IOC President Thomas Bach stressed that the modern Games must be “respected as politically neutral ground.â€
“Only this political neutrality ensures that the Olympic Games can stand above and beyond the political differences that exist in our times,†he said. “The Olympic Games cannot address all the challenges in our world. But they set an example for a world where everyone respects the same rules and one another.â€
Regardless of the Biden administration’s intention, the debate over boycotting the 2022 Winter Games in Beijing isn’t going away.
Tibetan rights activists said in a statement that China was trying to “sportswash†its human rights abuses “with the glamour and veneer of respectability the Olympic Games brings.â€
Commenting on the protest, the Greek national Olympic committee said that, while it respects freedom of expression, “it is disappointing that this traditional cultural event has been used by a few individuals for other purposes.â€
Beijing will become the first city to have hosted both winter and summer Olympics.
In a tightly choreographed performance shortly afterwards, a Greek actor playing the part of a pagan priestess knelt to light the Olympic flame, using a bowl-shaped mirror to focus the sun’s rays on a fuel-filled torch.
Standing in front of the few remaining columns of the ruined, 2,600-year-old Temple of Hera, she offered a symbolic prayer for the ancient Greek god of light, Apollo, to light the flame.
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“Mountains, fall silent; birdsong, cease,†she intoned as a TV drone buzzed overhead and ranks of photographers clicked their cameras.
Shortly afterward, the protester’s shouts were heard.
Yu Zaiqing, the vice president of the Beijing organizing committee, said the Games brought “confidence, warmth and hope†during the COVID-19 pandemic, which first appeared in China.
“We can and will deliver a streamlined, safe and splendid Olympic Games to the world,†he said.
Police were much in evidence at and around the archaeological site where the ancient Games were held from 776 BC for more than 1,000 years, until the Christians stamped them out. Anyone heading for the venue had to have an accreditation and pass through checkpoints and metal detectors.
On Sunday, two protesters were detained on the Acropolis in Athens trying to raise a banner to draw attention to human rights abuses in China.
A statement from the New York-based organization Students for a Free Tibet called on the international community to boycott the Beijing Games.
Even after being chosen to host 2022 Winter Olympics, China escalated human rights abuses. The IOC appears poised to let Beijing get away with it.
â€The IOC is sending the world a message that it is OK to turn a blind eye to genocide and crimes against humanity in Hong Kong, Tibet, East Turkestan and Southern Mongolia,†it added.
The Olympic flame will be taken to Athens and handed over to Beijing organizers Tuesday at the renovated stadium where the first modern Olympics were held in 1896.
The Beijing Winter Games will run from Feb. 4-20. Only spectators from mainland China will be allowed to attend. Everyone at the Olympics — including athletes — will be expected to have had their COVID-19 shots or to have spent 21 days in quarantine.
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