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Activists are urging athletes to try new and novel ways to pressure China into improving its human rights record, as Beijing tries to clamp down on protests during the Olympic Games.
Four protesters have already made their presence felt by unfurling Tibetan independence banners on power poles near the heavily guarded Bird's Nest Stadium, where the Olympics open tonight.
Others have similar plans. Through emails and internet postings, activists are asking athletes and leaders attending the Games in Beijing to wear wristbands and make hand signals to symbolise the plight of groups they say are being persecuted by China.
Tibetan activists are asking participants to make a 'T' hand signal, like a time-out signal in sports, to protest against the Chinese crackdown on Tibet.
Even with internet curbs, many human rights and marginalised groups still see the web as their only hope to be heard during the Olympics.
"We struggle to get our message across because we are banned in China" Amnesty International spokeswoman Margaret Taylor said. "The internet is one of the few ways left for us to reach the people in Beijing."
China lifted some web restrictions at the Olympic press centre last Friday, but only to a small number of sites such as Reporters without Boarders, German broadcaster Deutsche Welle and certain parts of Amnesty International.
Many other sites remained block, including Amnesty's China debate and those linked to the outlawed Falun Gong movement, Tibetan government-in-exile, Chinese dissidents and those with information on the 1989 Tiananmen massacre.
Ms Taylor said Amnesty International has written to New Zealand leaders such as Governor-General Anand Satyanand and Sports Minister Clayton Cosgrove, who would be in Beijing, to speak out about human rights abuses in China.
Myanmar activist Naing Ko Ko, who lives in Auckland, says he has issues with the Chinese Communist Party's support of the junta in his home country, and said he would be using the internet and email to spread his message to supporters in Beijing.
Three "protest parks" have been designated for the Olympics, but Ms Taylor said the Beijing authorities did not have any real intentions of allowing anyone to protest. "They have put away all the activists in Beijing anyway," she said.
Last Saturday, Beijing said interested parties wanting to protest must apply five days beforehand to get a "permit" and that demonstrations must not harm China's "national interests".
