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BEIJING-Countless Chinese will stay locked in on Friday night, watching the Beijing Olympics open on television. Quite a few will do so against their will.The build-up to the opening ceremony has brought a smothering security lockdown aimed at ensuring dissidents and protesters do not distract from the official festivities.Across Beijing, dissidents and their families are being held under house arrest, while others have fled to distant provinces or been taken on enforced "holidays" by state security minders, said human rights groups and many Chinese activists."I can go outside, but I have to ride in the police car with my guards wherever I go," said Yu Jie, a dissident-writer speaking by telephone. "It's absurd, because I have no interest in the Olympics, not even in watching them on television, and this is just giving me more subject-matter for critical essays."Human Rights in China, a New York-based group, issued a list of 24 protesters, critics of Communist Party control and their family members detained or closely guarded in recent days."In order to ensure a 'Safe Olympics', the Chinese authorities have put society under a virtual lockdown," said Sharon Hom, executive director of the group, in an email.On Friday, Beijing's Tiananmen Square was closed and surrounding streets cleared of people, many of them Chinese tourists hoping to enjoy pre-Games excitement on the landmark site.Petitioners who have come to the capital to present complaints to officials have often been detained, many said. "We're always on the run now," said Wang Haizhen, a middle-aged woman from Hebei province next to Beijing.As in the days of Noah...
