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Protests unlikely if law is enforced

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Rally zones will be empty if rules applied

If the rules are applied strictly, authorities in Beijing will probably not have to worry about the protest zones during the Olympic Games - they are likely to remain empty.

The security director of the Games organisers Bocog, Liu Shaowu, said on Wednesday that three protest zones would be set up in three Beijing parks - raising hopes that the moves might signal a loosening of security control during the Games.

But Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao yesterday confirmed demonstrators would have to comply with existing stringent laws - rules that rarely permit protests.

'If you want to find the answers [on how to protest during the Olympics] you just need to go to the Law of the People's Republic of China on Assemblies, Processions and Demonstrations,' he said.

The law is crammed with a host of strict criteria that must be met before being sent for approval by several layers of bureaucracy.

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