Two Britons held after Beijing demonstration

Other persons were involved as well. Some from America and somewhere else.

Brave of them to voice their opinion.

Hmm... interesting that they climbed a large pole in order to make their protests. This is something I hadn't noted in the PA story.

Whilst they have been detained for an improportionate length of time, I think they'd have been arrested in many western countries for protesting in such a way.

This is what i've waited for since I first heard china had gotten the Olympics. All of the things china has done to its people over the years will come out now, and what they've done to other country's like Tibet and Taiwan now is there chance to speak out against the Chinese so the world can hear.

They must not have been in the designated protesting area!

Why are we there at the Olympics anyway? Not just the smog but the human rights record of China is horrible. I realize this is not a popular opinion but mine nevertheless.

Wow, way to do nothing to help Tibet

This is the first of many protests. I expect every country in the world will have an incident of some sort. The Olympics focus the world's attention on the host and if China can't take it then they shouldn't have applied.

London will be no different in 2012, a hot bed of political activism.

Beijing should never have gotten the right to hold the olympics there. Their global influence is what allowed this to happen. Those able and willing to make this sacrifice should do so, and have my full support. We should not be blinded by the powers that be concerning human rights violations. Also considering this is a protest for Tibet and freeing the Dali Lama from exile, terrorist attacks would be nothing but hypocracy. Though I wouldnt doubt there is a false flag event happening in the future.

I can just feel this building into a really exciting crescendo, when the games finally kick off on Friday.

P.S Free Tibet

I'm on both sides of this one. I believe in cultural diversity which is an arena full of conflict. On the one hand China is a communist country (ignoring any specific political nuances) and democracy cannot be forced upon it -this simply would not work. The idea of human 'rights' is not concrete either - just becuase one ideology posits freedom as one thing and another promotes it in a different way, I think that it is arrogant (and possibly naive) to assume your version is the only correct one. On the other hand these are the ways in which political ideologies work, and to deny your own views would be to deny your sense of self. So an activist should be able to promote his standpoint on Tibet and believe utterly in his (and others') right to do so. But said activist is necessarily conflicting with another ideology which defines rights differently, and must accept the consequences of that. Perhaps there are more sensible ways of protesting.

i dont think free tibet activists are about to launch a terrorist event. It shouldnt bother you that they are protesting, it is their human right, it is an important cause which is more important than surgically clean looking olympics. Its a shame that there were no protesters about china's funding and arms trading with darfur.

I appreciate the efforts of protesters... but I feel like there's a time and a place. It's the freaking Olympics. Why can't it just be a sporting event and not a hotbed for political tension, protests and terrorist threats. I hope we don't have a repeat of Munich.