Red tape and intimidation blamed for empty demonstration spots
In a country where protests are technically legal but rarely approved, hopes were high when Beijing announced last month that official protest zones would be set up during the Olympic Games.
Yet more than a week after the Games kicked off, the three designated protest zones remain nothing more than parks - occupied mainly by the elderly and families. No banners can be seen or slogans heard.
Management at the Ritan, Purple Bamboo and Beijing World parks said they were yet to receive orders from police to set up the zones. Inquiries to the Beijing Public Security Bureau on applications filed have gone unanswered.
Protest zones were set up and occupied during the 2000 Sydney Olympics and in Athens in 2004.
Although political analysts have said it would be unwise for the Chinese authorities purposely to keep the zones empty, activists from home and abroad who meant to steal a little thunder from the Games have found themselves unwelcome.