On the eve of the Beijing Olympics, three American Christian activists were removed from the city's Tiananmen Square on Thursday after protesting restrictions on religious freedom in China.
Plainclothes security officials interrupted the three campaigners, who included the director of the US-based Christian Defense Coalition, Patrick Mahoney, as they held a news conference and prayer vigil in front of the Mao Zedong Memorial Hall.
Mahoney told reporters gathered for the press conference, "We have come here today to speak out against the human rights abuses of the Chinese Government. We have come here today to be a voice to those who are in prison because of their religious beliefs."
Chinese officials grabbed at microphones and put their hands up in front of cameras to stop their removal being filmed, reports Reuters news agency.
Fellow campaigner Brandi Swindell, founder and director of Generation Life, shouted to reporters as she was being dragged away, "We are here to pray peacefully."
The police had broken off a protest by the group on Wednesday against China's forced abortion policy but allowed them to leave the square, made famous by the put down of pro-democracy demonstrations in 1989. Later on Thursday, a group of Dutch Christians singing songs and handing out balloons was also told by police to move on, reports Reuters.
Speaking in Bangkok on Thursday night, US President George W Bush chided the Chinese Government for its poor track record on human rights.
"America stands in firm opposition to China's detention of political dissidents, human rights advocates and religious activists," he said.
Earlier this week, China Aid Association, a support group for the persecuted church in China, accused the Chinese Government of being "hypocritical" for using the Olympics to showcase the country's huge economic development in recent years whilst cracking down on religious and political freedom.
As China pulls out all the stops to ensure the Olympics project the communist country as a world leader, human rights and political activists are using the Games to attack the policies of the Chinese Government with equal fervour.
On Wednesday, two American and two British protesters defied the tight security around the National Stadium to unfurl pro-Tibet banners from two lampposts. Late Wednesday night and early Thursday morning, at least two women were detained by police after they criticised the Chinese Government for taking over their family home as part of a major redevelopment of the area around Tiananmen Square for the Olympic Games.
Meanwhile, persecution watchdogs like CAA, Open Doors and Release International say that arrests and detentions of house church members have only intensified in the months leading up to the Games.
