Olympics a disaster for China free speech-rights group

PARIS, Aug 23 (Reuters) - Press rights group Reporters Without Borders said on Saturday the Olympics had been a disaster for free speech in China.

In a statement, the Paris-based group said China had placed restrictions on the activities of scores of human rights and pro-Tibet activists and some foreign journalists.

Reporters Without Borders spokesman Benoit Hervieu told Reuters there were 'absolutely no grounds for optimism' that the Beijing Olympics would help improve human rights in China.

The group said 47 pro-Tibet activists had been arrested and at least 50 human rights activists placed under house arrest, harassed or forced to leave Beijing during the games.

At least 15 Chinese citizens were arrested for seeking permission to demonstrate, the group added.

Hervieu said there had been no serious physical attacks on journalists but reporters had been pushed around and harassed by police to stop them covering certain events.

John Ray, a journalist from British news organisation ITN, was manhandled by police as he tried to cover a pro-Tibet demonstration.

Reporters without Borders Secretary General Robert Menard said in a statement that the treatment of journalists during the Olympics would leave a bitter taste.

"This repression will be remembered as one of the defining characteristics of the Beijing games."

(Reporting by Sudip Kar-Gupta, editing by Janet McBride)