Protesters continued their programme of Olympic disruption yesterday with domestic and overseas demonstrators again playing cat and mouse with the authorities in Beijing.
Five international protesters were detained after staging a so-called 'die-in' in front of the pole flying the national flag in Tiananmen Square.
The group of three Americans, a Canadian and a German streaked fake blood over themselves and draped themselves in Tibetan flags.
'The protest initially attracted an impassive crowd but a group of around 20 angry young men, dressed in similar civilian clothing, arrived and things turned hostile,' said one of the organisers, John Hocevar, who claimed to be a founder of the group.
'When the protesters started chanting for a free Tibet, some of the men threw half-full plastic water bottles. Then plain-clothes policemen came and detained them. I am not sure where they are now,' added Mr Hocevar, 40, from Austin, Texas.
The veteran activist said he had entered China on a year-long multiple tourist visa obtained in his hometown in May.
He changed his Chinese mobile phone number regularly, he said.