China Closes Everest to Curb Protests

Flame will ascend Everest next month

(NEWSER) - Nepal has plans for protesters intent on disrupting the Olympic flame's ascent up Mount Everest, the AP reports. An official today authorized the use of deadly force "to stop any protest on the mountain using whatever means necessary." Climbers are scheduled to reach the summit in the border region between Nepal and Tibet early next month. More»

American banned from Everest for two years over protest banner

(NEWSER) - Nepal deported an American climber yesterday, the Times of India reports, after police at a Mount Everest base camp found a pro-Tibetan banner in his backpack. Nepal, staunchly pro-China, has enacted restrictions—and authorized security forces to use guns—to prevent protests when the Olympic torch ascends the world's tallest mountain in May. More»

Marches "tarnish the lofty Olympic spirit," China says

(NEWSER) - Today China denounced the protests that have disrupted Olympic torch relays in London and Paris over the past 2 days, Reuters reports. "The despicable activities tarnish the lofty Olympic spirit," a Foreign Ministry spokeswoman said. She also denied media reports that "the Olympic torch was forced to be extinguished during its relay in Paris." More»

Activist grabs torch, 25 busted in street battles with cops

(NEWSER) - Despite massive security, London erupted today in a series of protests along the route of the Olympic flame relay, and a "free Tibet" protester managed to grab the torch before police wrestled him to the ground, reports the Guardian. At least 25 protesters were busted as scores of police grappled with activists demonstrating against China's human rights abuses. More»

(NEWSER) - Those shocked by China’s bristly response to Olympic protests and criticisms would do well to remember some history, Orville Schell writes for the New York Review of Books. After what the Chinese call a "century of humiliation" at the hands of the West and Japan, the nation has developed an institutionalized paranoia and sense of injury that even a booming economy hasn't fixed. That's where the Olympics come in. More»