BEIJING, August 7 (agencies): At least two women who have protested being evicted from their homes ahead of the Olympics were rounded up and taken to a police station, amid ramped up efforts Thursday by activists to use the games to spotlight their causes.
Zhang Wei and Ma Xiulan, who have been vocal about the pain of losing their family compounds near Tiananmen Square to make way for Olympic construction, were taken from their homes late Wednesday and early Thursday morning, according to Ma.
The efforts are part of stringent security measures for the games by Chinese communist authorities determined that the Olympics should be an international showcase for the country.
With the world's eyes turned on Beijing in anticipation of the games, which start Friday, activists have stepped up their protests to publicise their causes.
The groups so far have been small and police have acted with relative restraint. No arrests were reported although the Beijing Olympics organising committee condemned the demonstrations.
Ma said officers came to her door at 2 am and bruised her arm while grabbing her. Reached by the AP on her cell phone, she said she was at a local police station with Zhang and a number of other residents but could not give any other details.
"The police are watching me and are restricting my phone use," Ma said. "They are not letting me talk to reporters, especially the foreign media. I'm here because I talked to the foreign media before," Ma said before quickly hanging up.
A woman who answered Zhang's cell phone said Zhang had been taken away a little before midnight by two police offers and one plainclothes security agent. She refused to give her name for fear of official retribution and would only say she was a family member.
Two officers who answered the telephone at the police station where Ma said she was being held said no one had been detained and refused to give any more information because they were not authorized to speak to the media.
Qianmen, the historic area where the homes of Zhang and Ma were located, is south of Tiananmen Square and has undergone a huge makeover to make way for a commercial strip with businesses such as Nike, Starbucks and Rolex.
A former resident in the neighborhood who had been planning to display a protest banner on the street was surrounded by plainclothes security agents and led away. He tried to speak to AP reporters before the agents used their hands to block the cameras.
Thousands of people have been forced from courtyard homes that have been passed down for generations to make way for the redevelopment, part of larger relocations throughout Beijing as a property boom transforms the city's landscape.
