Bird’s Nest Banner Action

This morning two climbers from SFT ascended 120 foot tall light poles outside of the Bird’s Nest Olympic Stadium in Beijing and unfurled huge banners. The banners read “One World One Dream Free Tibet” and “Tibet Will Be Free” — the latter with “Free Tibet” also written in Chinese. The climbers were on the large light polls for about an hour. The two climbers and two other SFT activists were detained following the banner hang. The story of this brave, technical action on the eve of the Olympics is the top story on the BBC and receiving massive coverage as the world’s eyes turn towards China.

You can read SFT’s press release on the banner action here. SFT has also posted background bio info on the four activists — Iain Thom, Phill Bartell, Lucy Marion, and Tirian Mink — detained in the action. You can also find audio files of the climbers speaking out on why they’re taking action for Tibet and high-resolution photos on the banners at the FreeTibet2008.org Media Center.

The early media coverage is great. ABC News spoke with Iain Thom by phone while he was still on the light pole:

One climber, who identified himself as Ian from Edinburgh, Scotland, told ABC News via mobile phone while climbing down that he hoped his “skills would be useful to call for a real difference.”

He said he entered China with a group from the United Kingdom on a tourist visa.

“I’ll probably get detained by the police and then ejected out of the country but I believe it’s not anywhere near the risk or the fear that Tibetans are living under the occupation of the Chinese government,” he said.

ESPN’s Arty Berko has a very interesting write-up on his experience witnessing the action as a member of the foreign press. He was confronted by “angry and aggressive” policemen and Chinese civilians who tried to stop him from photographing and interviewing our activists. The crowd encircled him and things were pretty ugly. Berko writes: “Some of the onlookers joined in, and I was circled by people who started pushing and shoving me, screaming and pointing to the stadium. I never got hit or punched, but I was definitely physically accosted. I was trying to be smart about it and I wasn’t hitting anyone, but I kept yelling, “Media! Press!”

Al Jazeera, Reuters, Wall Street Journal, and AP have all also covered the action, to name just a few.

As the world is looking to Beijing for the start of the Olympics, the political turmoil, repression of ethnic minorities, crackdown in Tibet, and illiberal treatment of the press are all going to be part of the story. Today’s action shows that contrary to China’s multi-billion dollar P.R. operation’s claims, the Olympics will be a moment marked by intense political scrutiny. The work of Iain, Phill, Lucy, and Tirian is being broadcast around the world and it shows that not even the most dazzling Olympic spectacle will be able to cover up China’s abysmal record in Tibet.