China has detained an American artist before he carried out a pro-Tibet protest

BEIJING (AFP) — China has detained an American artist before he carried out a pro-Tibet protest involving a laser beam projected onto a Beijing building at the Olympics, an activist group said Wednesday.

James Powderly, the co-founder of art group Graffiti Research Lab, was detained by Chinese authorities early Tuesday, according to a statement from Students for a Free Tibet posted on its website.

Powderly was preparing "to debut a new work and technology of protest, the L.A.S.E.R. stencil" which uses a 400 milliwatt handheld green laser to beam simple messages up to three storeys high on billboards and buildings, it said.

The group did not detail where or when Powderly was planning to carry out his protest, and what exact message he was hoping to deliver. "James is a unique voice in the world, who lives and breathes art and technology for the purpose of promoting and enabling freedom of expression for all," said Nathan Dorjee, technology director for Students for a Free Tibet.

"He was in Beijing to support the Tibetan people and all people around the world whose voices have been silenced by their governments, a small piece of his portfolio as an artist who won't back down in the face of authority."

Spokespeople from Students for a Free Tibet were not immediately available for comment on Wednesday. The US embassy declined comment, and Beijing police headquarters also did not immediately respond to a request for a comment.

Pro-Tibet activists have launched at least six protests in Beijing to coincide with the Olympics, which end Sunday. Meanwhile, two elderly Chinese women who applied to demonstrate at official Olympic protest zones have been ordered to serve one year each of reeducation through labour, a human rights group said Wednesday.

Wu Dianyuan, 79, and Wang Xiuying, 77, who were forcibly evicted from their Beijing homes in 2001, applied five times for permits to protest during the Games, Human Rights in China said.

As a result they were interrogated for 10 hours and then sentenced to one year of "Reeducaton Through Labour", the group said. They will not be sent to a labour camp immediately but will have their movements restricted and be sent off to detention if they cause more trouble, the group added in a statement.