Activist tries to show Tibetan flag at Olympic venue

HONG KONG, China (AP) -- Security officers have removed a university student who tried to display the Tibetan flag during the Olympic equestrian competition in Hong Kong.

Security officers carry local student and activist Christina Chan from the equestrian venue.

The student, Christina Chan, displayed a placard bearing the Canadian flag and the Tibetan flag underneath during the competition in Hong Kong's suburban Sha Tin district early Saturday. When she tried to peel away the Canadian flag to reveal the Tibetan flag, four or five security officers asked her to leave but she refused. Officers carried her out of the venue about half an hour later.

Lam Woon-kwong, chief executive of the equestrian event, said Chan would be banned from future events.

Several other protesters demanding China abolish the death penalty held a banner that said "stop executions" near the venue.

"She was sort of disturbing other spectators around her, which is against the house rules," event spokesman Mark Pinkstone said.

Pinkstone said Chan -- who also protested at the Hong Kong leg of the Olympic torch relay in May -- was removed from the venue but not arrested.

Organizers said before the equestrian event that the Tibetan flag would be banned under house rules that prohibit the display of national flags of countries not represented at the competition. The rules also prohibit propaganda on banners, clothing or accessories.

TV footage also showed a man wearing a T-shirt that said "democracy and human rights are more important than the Olympics." The man was asked to take off the shirt before entering the venue.

A former British colony now ruled by China, Hong Kong is promised Western-style civil liberties commonly denied on the mainland, like freedom of speech and protest. Still, the local government has apparently tightened controls because of the Olympics.

An opposition lawmaker says three U.S.-based ethnic Chinese democracy activists were turned away at the airport Wednesday.

Olympic organizers moved the equestrian event from Beijing to Hong Kong because of a rash of equine diseases and substandard quarantine procedures on the mainland. Hong Kong has a prominent horse racing scene.

Also on Saturday, five activists staged a "peaceful protest" in Tiananmen Square, breaching heavy security that has surrounded the heart of Beijing for the Olympic Games, a pro-Tibet group said.

Lhadon Thetong, executive director for Students for a Free Tibet, said the protesters draped themselves in Tibetan flags and lay down in the square on Saturday.

It wasn't immediately clear if they were stopped by authorities.

The action came a day after three Americans from the group were detained while displaying Tibetan flags near the entrance to the National Stadium, where the opening ceremony for the games were held.

Tibet has been an extremely sensitive topic since protests against Chinese rule turned violent in the region's capital of Lhasa in March.