Student activists goes over the wall in China

A group of protestors including Canadians from Students for a Free Tibet, attracted international attention when they unfurled a giant banner calling for an independent Tibet on the Great Wall of China.

The act coincided with the one-year countdown to the 2008 Olympics, which will be held in Beijing.  Melanie Raoul, member of Students for a Free Tibet, said the organization planned the demonstration long before they actually staged it. "You don't do something like this, and not plan ahead," she said.

The group arrived early at the wall on Aug. 7, to make sure the weather wouldn't turn. Once two of the members had set up the communication feed and the broadcast equipment that would transmit the protest to the rest of the world, Raoul and five other members set out their climbing equipment and went over the wall. They stayed on the wall for two hours.

"By two hours, there was a dozen authorities and they threatened to cut our ropes down, so we thought for everyone's safety we should end the protest," said Raoul.

The demonstrators were arrested and held in detention for 36 hours before finally being released and deported to Hong Kong.

"We had no access to the outside world, despite having that right. We were told we didn't have the right," Raoul said.

But she said that as a Canadian citizen, she felt assured that she would not be hurt.

"As a foreign national I have a passport. I have a government protecting me, I had that privilege [...] if I were a Chinese national the story would be different," Raoul said.

"There is more of a window to do this kind of thing this year. While the Chinese government may not like protests, they realize that this year the whole world is watching and they have to treat this kind of thing with kid gloves," said Armand De Mestral, a professor of law at McGill University. " That's why all the protestors probably came home safe and didn't spend a lot of time in the Chinese jails."

However, De Mestral said that he could not speculate on whether or not the protest had any impact on the Chinese government.

As for Raoul and her friends, she said the group plans to stage more protests during the upcoming year.

"This year is pivotal to get the message out there, we want human rights and Tibet to be at the forefront every time people talk about China or the 2008 Olympics."