"Please Don't Throw me into the Briar Patch!"

from The Idaho Statesman:

A Boise woman was detained briefly by security agents and police officers while protesting in Tiananmen Square Wednesday.

Brandi Swindell, national director of the activist group Generation Life, was among three Americans that spent about an hour criticizing Beijing’s handling of issues ranging from forced abortions to the banned Falun Gong spiritual movement to pro-democracy demonstrations in 1989.

The trio also set up a banner in the square that said "Christ is King" and knelt and prayed.

"It's so shocking being an American ... to see the blatant oppression," Swindell said.

The small group said plainclothes security agents and police officers tried to block the banner with umbrellas and started shoving the group when they tried to walk around the square.

The agents eventually pushed them out of the area and made them sit nearby for almost an hour, checking their passports, before letting them go, Mahoney and Swindell said.

"It was important for us that there be a clear voice speaking out against the Chinese government's abuse of human rights," Rev. Patrick Mahoney, director of the Christian Defense Coalition in Washington, said in a telephone interview.

Maybe Mahoney's opinion is right, maybe it's not; I'm not particularly sure how important it is for outsiders to speak out on that front. Not for a second do I think China's a human rights paradise, I'm just not sure how vital it is that Americans go over there and talk about it. (frankly, don't think anyone should've showed up to the games at all...but that's neither here nor there). I do think it's important that those speaking out be honest about what they expect to happen. It's inconceivable that they expect anything to change. They have to expect to be treated at least in a manner similar to the way those three were.

Swindell says "it's shocking" to see the kind of oppression that she was protesting?!?! And Renault was shocked to find gambling at Rick's. Puh-leez.

I sure don't think being harassed by the Chinese authorities (or any authorities for that matter) is a walk in the park, but exactly what was this "blatant oppression" again?

security agents and police officers tried to block the banner with umbrellas and started shoving the group when they tried to walk around the square.

The agents eventually pushed them out of the area and made them sit nearby for almost an hour, checking their passports, before letting them go

They tried to block their sign with umbrellas (quelle horreur!), shoving (so they could've been third graders); made them site (on the other hand, they could've been parents!); checked their passports (oooh, nasty bureaucrats!); and let them go after almost whole hour (the brutes!). Am pretty sure that's a regular day at the office for a pro-life demonstrator in the U.S.A. Not fun, no doubt, but nothing out of the ordinary. Certainly nothing shocking.

Of course, that's just my opinion. I could be wrong.