the Tibetan flag is banned in china
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Made in China: Factory making 'Free Tibet' flags raided
29 Apr 2008, 1607 hrs IST,AFP
HONG KONG: Days before the Olympic torch is due in China for the final
leg of its controversial world tour, police there have raided a
factory producing Tibetan independence flags, a report said.
Police in the southern province of Guangdong, which borders Hong Kong
and is China's manufacturing hub, said the factory had been making the
distinctive flags to fulfil an overseas order, Hong Kong's Ming Pao
newspaper said.
In a raid on April 20, police discovered thousands of the flags packed
and ready for shipment, with many more being made, the paper said in a
report on Sunday.
It said police believed the flags could have been destined for Hong
Kong, ordered by pro-Tibetan groups planning to demonstrate when the
Olympic torch is paraded through the territory on Friday.
The factory owners were detained and told police they did not know the
flags signified Tibetan independence, the report said, adding that
factory employees had alerted police after seeing the flags on
television and looking them up on the Internet.
Vehicles travelling to Shenzhen, which borders Hong Kong, were being
checked to ensure they were not transporting the flags into the former
British colony, though police believed some could have already
arrived.
While the flag -- which shows a bright yellow sun on a red and blue
background flanked by two snow lions -- is banned in China, it is not
illegal in Hong Kong.
The torch relay has become a focus for a wide range of complaints
against China's communist government, including its human rights
record.
Demonstrators calling for independence for Tibet, which has been under
Chinese rule since 1950, have dogged its progress, notably in London,
Paris and San Francisco.
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