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Banker's daughter arrested in Beijing protest
Kiran Randhawa and Shekhar Bhatia06.08.08
A City millionaire's daughter was arrested by Chinese authorities today after launching a dramatic "Free Tibet" protest at the Olympic stadium.
Lucy Fairbrother, 23, daughter of a former Barings Bank director, was being held along with three other activists over the breach of security.
They unfurled Tibetan flags and banners from 120ft lighting poles outside the "Bird's Nest" stadium.
The demonstration outside the heavily guarded venue, which will host the opening ceremony on Friday, took place hours before the Olympic torch arrived in the city's Tiananmen Square.
After bypassing security officials, the activists climbed the posts with the flags and 140 sq ft banners.
One banner parodied the official slogan of the Games, "One World, One Dream", by adding the words "Free Tibet", while another read "Tibet will be free". A third banner in Chinese stated "Free Tibet".
Ms Fairbrother, a Bristol University classics graduate who lives in London, was seized by Chinese police along with Iain Thom, 24, from Edinburgh, and Americans Phill Bartell, 34, a tattoo shop owner from Boulder, Colorado, and Tirian Mink, 32, a construction manager from Portland, Oregon, at 7am local time, an hour after their demonstration began.
She became involved with the Students for a Free Tibet group after visiting the area five years ago.
Her parents, Linda, an Anglia TV presenter, and Jeremy, 69, said they were "fully supportive" of their daughter's actions.
Mrs Fairbrother, 58, who lives with her husband in a £1.3 million house close to Cambridge University, said: "The Foreign Office have just phoned and told me Lucy has been detained.
"I knew very roughly what she was going to do but I obviously didn't know the exact details. I knew she would be protesting but that was all she said she was allowed to tell us.
"Lucy has been involved with Students for a Free Tibet for quite a long time and, although as a parent I am very concerned about the consequences and implications of her being detained, I support her fighting for the freedom and democracy of Tibet."
Mrs Fairbrother, who was joined by Lucy's sister Laura, a primary school teacher, added: "The whole world is watching China so I doubt while she is in detention they will do anything drastic. In that sense I am less worried than I normally would be."
Oxford graduate Dr Fairbrother left Barings in 1992 to become senior bursar at Trinity College, Cambridge and was also a nonexecutive director of Abbey National Treasury Services, a subsidiary of Abbey National.
Miss Fairbrother has written of her love for Tibet and has repeatedly demonstrated in Britain, including against the visit of Chinese president Hu Jintao in 2005 and the progress of the Olympic torch through London.
She wrote on a campaign website about her time in Tibet as well as being photographed in front of a Tibetan prayer mantra, Om Mani Padme Hum, which the country's Buddhists repeat to invoke blessings.
She said: "We could feel the atmosphere of oppression just walking through the streets and monasteries. Our guide was hushed by a monk when he uttered '14th Dalai Lama', and guiltily giggled as he mentioned the of ficial 11th Panchen Lama (the 2nd most important leader in Tibet), who is a Chinese replacement for the 'real' Panchen Lama, who has been in prison since his recognition at the age of six."
Speaking on a mobile phone from half way up one of the posts this morning, Mr Thomsaid the action was aimed at the Chinese Communist government.
He said: "I have been a long-term Tibet supporter and I feel that now is a critical time for Tibet. We did this action today to change the Government's use of the Beijing Olympics as a propaganda tool.
"They are using the Olympics to whitewash their human rights record on Tibet. Our action is shining a spotlight on those atrocities."
The protest will be deeply embarrassing for the Chinese authorities who yesterday insisted that security and protection around Olympic venues had been strengthened amid fears of a possible terror attack. The International Olympic Committee also said it believed the authorities had done everything possible "to ensure the security and safety of everyone at the Games".
About 100,000 police and soldiers are on standby ahead of the opening ceremony and security has been stepped up in Tiananmen Square.
Last month, the authorities said they would allow protests in three designated areas during the Games. But with activists having to apply to protest five days in advance, it is unlikely to happen. There have also been reports of applications being refused.
Lhadon Tethong, executive director of Students for a Free Tibet, said: "We have taken non-violent action at this critical time to draw the world's attention to the crisis gripping Tibet."
The Beijing Organising Committee of the Olympic Games was not available for comment.
Reader views (11)
I have meet . Lucy at an evening organised by the Reigate Free Tibet group so I can say she is not’ some rich attention seeking kid as’ as some people have suggested. She is a very intelligent, hard working person with a deep commitment for justice, human rights and concern for others.
To those who criticise I ask what ate you doing for to help Free Tibet?
- John Scovell, Redhill, Surrey
shes just some bored rich kid daughter tryin to make a name for herself
- Chi, London
She fought for what she believed, which was admirable. Still my sympathy for her for that she seemed to know quite limited about Chinese history with its all compliancy over Tibet-China issues. Objectively, not everything Chinese do is wrong, specifically in Tibet issues. Again, my deep sympathy.
- S.Agrawal, Delhi, India
What happened to the Sydney Olympics and the aborigines being unrecognised, mistreated, ghettoised and ignored of their rightful ancestral lands? I didn't see the media interviewing these rightful heirs of Australia. I didn't see Lucy protesting for the rights of the aborigines did you? I didn't see the media hysteria interviewing the maltreatment of aborigines by the Australia government and people.
- Alessandro Millini, Venice, Italy
Well said, Alessandro; I couldn't agree with you more!
- Ty, Vancouver, Canada
This is to Alessandro Millini in Italy.
Lucy happens to be one of my best friends, and yes, her parents have worked hard and are comfortably wealthy, but as long as I have known her she has never. EVER, exploited this fact. To be so disgustingly judgemental as to call her a 'Typical rich spoiled brat with more money than sense' is nothing but wrong and ignorant. She has never shown she is from a wealthy family and never flaunts it to anyone. in all the time I've known her she hasn't cared about money in the same way most people do, she has used it productively in order to stand up for what she believes in, she works hard, she has a damn good degree and when she isn't working for her beliefs she does have a job. She is one of the most intelligent people I know and if you think that the fight against china is due to western efforts to blackmail them, then you are deluded. The way China treats Tibetan people is absolutely disgusting and taking power by force is not the way to go.
Sort your views out and do not judge people whom you've never even met. Do you really think that someone would spend so much of their time, every evening, researching and writing letters and emails and doing everything they can purely to help others, just so they can get 'famous'?
Clearly you haven't got even a quarter of the intelligence that Lucy has and by the looks of your views on the whole thing, are ignorant, paranoid and closed minded.
- Sian Williams, cambridge UK
She's standing up for what she believes in. You can call her rich, spoilt, a hippy or a brat but she's doing a whole lot more for democracy and for freedom than you are. Hypocrites..
- Lauren, Sydney, Australia
Typical rich spoiled brat with more money than sense off to make a name for herself because she doesn't feel the need to work 9 to 5 and 7 days a week. When you have money you don't want money you want fame and this is a perfect example the world is full of these attention seeking bigots.
This is a united effort by the corporations of the west to bombard the Chinese with negative marketing which is really blackmail at this crucial time in Chinese history. There aim is for China to allow the western corporations access to the 1 Billion + untapped consumers so they can sell them their products and services.
The Chinese are the workhorse of the world and they can make almost anything so why would they allow money to go to western banks when they can provide all the needs of their consumers, pick up anything and read the reverse text "made in?" yes China! Western corporations know the Chinese are modernising and developing at a fast rate and they see this as a threat because they don't want the Chinese making and selling all the things their countrymen want because they feel this is against democracy and freedom, how absurd. Bush didn't create freedom neither has he a monopoly of this inalienable right go read your constitution Bush.
- Alessandro Millini, Venice, Italy
Kids always rebel. Typical hippie looking for attention.
- Mikko Takala, Drumnadrochit, Scotland
Nothing like being brainwashed by a bunch of lamas and being used by them as a political tool. Horray for freedom and ignorances.
- Lz, Philadelphia
That would be the protest captured by a video logger in the early hours of this morning.
- Aedis, Glasgow
