The Beijing Games have only just begun and our Canadian SFTers have already added their voices to the global chorus for Tibetan freedom in major way! Since August 10th, eight Canadians have been detained and deported for their attempts to speak up for human rights and independence for Tibet.

Chris Schwartz (24, Montreal), member of SFT Canada's Board of Directors who has been with Students for a Free Tibet since he was 15 years old, was the first Canuck to protest against the occupation of Tibet in Beijing on December 10th by staging a peaceful die-in at the infamous Tiananmen Square.

The next day, Steve Erich Andersen (28, Halifax) and Maude Cote (28, Montreal) unfurled Tibetan flags and a banner with a Tibetan-German woman at the southern entrance of Tiananmen Square. Maude had been witness to the previous day's protest and was speaking to media and providing analysis as a long time Tibet support and member of SFT Canada's board of directors.

Meanwhile, at 11:40 am, five Canadian Tibet activists confirmed by phone that they were being detained at their hotel and questioned in the basement. Jasmine Freed (27, Vancouver), Paul Christopher Baker (29, Edmonton), Michael Hudema (31, Edmonton), Denise Ogonoski (26, Edmonton) and William Nelson (26, Vancouver) had all traveled to Beijing to speak out for Tibetan freedom at this critical time.

During their stay, they were relentlessly followed and intimidated before being put under house arrest, interrogated, and later deported to Hong Kong - giving a glimpse into the kind of repression Tibetans inside Tibet face daily. All the protesters were detained and have been deported out of China simply for speaking up for human rights and self-determination for the Tibetan people.