Beijing trumpeted its decision to establish special protest zones for this month's Olympics as a demonstration of the liberties enjoyed by citizens of China's capital.
But when former residents of Beijing's historic Qianmen district applied for permission to use one of the zones to demonstrate against the demolition of their traditional courtyard homes, police were unequivocal.
“They said that in order to maintain stability they would certainly not approve our protest,” said Zhang Wei, a group member whose home was razed two years ago to make way for an retail and residential complex.
The quick refusal of permission for a demonstration, even one in a city park well away from Olympic venues, underscores the determination of China's Communist government to curb dissent.
In recent weeks authorities have detained or jailed dissidents and critics while tightening surveillance over non-government groups, human rights lawyers and social campaigners.
Beijing police decline to comment on how many people have applied to use the Olympic protest zones or if any have received approval.
An official of the public security bureau in Chaoyang district, which includes the park where the Qianmen residents hoped to protest, said citizens had the right to apply to demonstrate but that police could direct them to other “appropriate channels”. The police would act “from the perspective of maintaining stability”.
Such an approach does not surprise Ms Zhang, who says police visited her workplace after she applied for the Olympic protest permit. She and fellow Qianmen residents have struggled to win a hearing for their claims that their homes were demolished without legal process and that the razing of much of the area breaches a legally binding 2002 preservation plan. Their petitions have been ignored and a long-sought court hearing, originally set for last month, was postponed indefinitely.
State-controlled media have ignored their campaign, despite government plans to transfer the Qianmen project to the control of Soho China, a property developer. A venture run by its founder has a controlling stake in the company leading the Qianmen redevelopment and has been pushing ahead with an “imaginative interpretation” of the area.
Local officials have declined to explain how the redevelopment accords with the preservation plan but insist it is “absolutely legal”. The first stage of the project, a section of Qianmen Avenue with a number of modern buildings decorated with old-fashioned features such as slate roofs, is to open to the public this week. State media have hailed what they call the rebirth of the quarter, which lies just south of Tiananmen Square.
Residents in surviving courtyard homes just east of the Qianmen project fear their neighbourhood is now also designated for clearance and redevelopment. Broad roads have been driven through areas that for centuries were defined by narrow lanes. Residents complain that authorities have offered compensation of just over Rmb8,000 ($1,170, €754, £597) per square metre for their homes, which they say is far below fair value or what they would need to find a new place to live.
“At Rmb8,000, I would get only Rmb20,000-30,000. It's not enough to buy a toilet,” says Chen Zuoshan, 70.
While Mr Chen says he is resigned to moving after the games, anger over forced relocations is widely considered a main source of social instability. In response, authorities have cracked down hard on people who challenge redevelopment.
