Beijing's protest parks strictly for the birds

By Emma Graham-Harrison

BEIJING (Reuters) - The loudest songs to trouble official ears in Beijing's Olympic "protest parks" are those of sparrows. The only shouts those of amateur badminton players.

China said in July it had set up three demonstration zones to counter criticism Beijing is crushing human rights to prevent disruptions to the meticulously planned Olympics.

The only condition was that would-be protesters had to a apply for a protest permit five days in advance.

But as the end of the Games approaches, not a single permit has been issued and park managers have not even made plans for handling demonstrators, because they do not expect any.

At least one would-be protester was even arrested after applying for a protest permit, a human rights group said.

"We will make arrangements about where to hold the protest once the police notified us that one has been approved," said a man surnamed Dong, who works at Ritan Park, an altar to the sun in imperial China and one of the three designated protest zones.

"It has all been calm so far, we have not heard anything."

Seventy-seven applications have been lodged since August 1 to hold what would be the first legal, independent protests in tightly controlled China for decades, state media said on Monday.

None was approved.

Most applicants wanted to raise labor, medical and welfare issues -- chronic problems in China.

Protesters willing to risk the ire of Communist authorities by bringing them up while the country is celebrating the Olympics would likely have deep and long-standing grievances.

Fortunately for Olympic officials, however, 74 people resolved their problems after applying to protest, state media reported. The other three did not meet regulations.

PUBLICITY STUNT, TRAP?

That they managed to apply at all was impressive. A visit to two police stations during the Olympics to try to secure one of the forms met blank stares and a range of excuses.

"Actually someone did come here to apply to protest, with a form, but I don't know where he got it from," said one officer, peering through the iron gate of a locked station.