Reuters: Five Americans held as China steps up scrutiny

Five Americans held as China steps up scrutiny
Wed Aug 20, 2008 5:43am EDT

By Ralph Jennings and Lindsay Beck

BEIJING (Reuters) - Five American blogger-activists and
a foreign artist have been detained in Beijing as the
government intensifies a crackdown on pro-Tibetan
protests in the home stretch of the Olympics, rights
groups said on Wednesday.

Students for a Free Tibet said authorities detained on
Tuesday five self-styled "citizen journalists" who were
in Beijing to promote Tibetan freedom. They said activist-
artist James Powderly had also been nabbed.

The Beijing Olympics have not been dogged by the
widespread demonstrations that authorities had feared.
Several protesters advocating for Tibet independence have
nonetheless managed to breach tight security, in one case
hanging a "Free Tibet" banner outside the headquarters of
the state broadcaster.

China is particularly sensitive to criticism of its rule in
Tibet, the far-western region Communist troops entered in
1950.

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