2013年高中英语教学辅助素材：Political-Activists-Shun-Staging-Protests-at-Olympics（文本）.docVIP

LONDON ?Despite the fact that the Olympics this year are being held in Great Britain, a country that protects free speech, so far there have been very few political demonstrations during the games. Some groups have decided that protesting during the Olympics would do more harm than good for their causes. Maria Wenda and a small number of protesters from the Free West Papua Movement staged a demonstration in front of the Indonesian Embassy in London during the Olympics. She says the group hopes the international media here for the games will also tell the world about their cause -- to end what they say is Indonesias occupation of West Papua and expose ongoing human rights abuses. 揟his is very important and [has] big meaning for us and for West Papua people because nobody knows and what the people of West Papua, being crying and shouting for help and nobody knows and nobody hears about this.?Wenda said. In East London near the Olympic stadium Gobi Sivanthan, with Tamils Against Genocide, is staging a hunger strike. He wants the international community to investigate the Sri Lankan government for what he says are crimes against humanity, committed against the Tamil ethnic group. Im targeting international media because we dont have our media. We dont have any help from most of the international media. So I am here to get attention by democratic way and peaceful way, Sivanthan said. In a vibrant democracy like Great Britain, political protests like these are common and legal. But during the Olympics, there have been relatively few such demonstrations. And those that have occurred have not disrupted the games. Security analyst Valentina Soria, with the Royal United Services Institute, says British authorities have increased police and security forces during the games and let it be known they would not tolerate any demonstrations that might endanger public safety. 揥e allow people to protest and to spread their dissent but always to a limited extent insofar as it doe