SFT's co-founder and fearless leader for many years, John Hocevar, was detained in Beijing yesterday as he and two long-time SFT members and supporters, Maude Côté and Adam Zenko, attempted to unfurl a banner at the south entrance to Tiananmen Square.

At the same time, the first Tibetan exile to protest in Beijing during the Olympics, Padma-Dolma Fielitz, along with Tibet supporter Steve Andersen, were tackled to the ground when they displayed Tibetan flags nearby.

Watch a video of this dramatic protest and arrest! http://freetibet2008.tv/2008/08/11/padma-dolma-statement-upon-arrest-in-beijing/

While this protest was taking place, across the city in a hotel basement, five Canadian Tibet supporters were being interrogated by Chinese authorities. Jasmine Freed, Paul Baker, Mike Hudema, Denise Ogonoski, and William Nelson were taken from their rooms for questioning this morning after being under heavy surveillance for days. Last night, when they knew it was very unlikely that they would make it out of the hotel again, they recorded heartfelt messages of support for the Tibetan people. You can listen to an audio message from William. http://hub.ft08.tv/library/audio/William_Beijing.mp4

And finally, a man behind the scenes who has been tirelessly documenting the situation on the ground during the Olympics, known only as "noneck," was also detained by authorities after he filmed the protest at Tiananmen Square today. We only learned of noneck's detention when we received the following text message:

"I'm getting deported for filming. Everyone safe. Tibet will be free!"

Having John in Beijing these past few days has brought SFT full circle from our early beginnings and especially from 2001 when we campaigned against Beijing's bid to host the 2008 Olympics. The moment that we lost, we were looking ahead to 2008 and what SFT would be doing in Beijing and around the world to make it a watershed year for Tibet.

In John's own words: "I spent a lot of time and energy trying to warn the IOC that China would just use the Games to try to legitimize its occupation of Tibet and to whitewash their human rights record. They didn't listen."

And so began our unprecedented journey to Beijing 2008 - from Everest Base Camp, the Great Wall, and 'Beijing Wide Open,' to the Olympic Torch protests, the Golden Gate Bridge, the IOC Board meeting in Athens, the New York Times "Athlete Wanted" ad, the Bird's Nest and most recently Tiananmen Square - SFT has made history by carrying out creative and strategic actions to amplify the voices of Tibetans inside Tibet and shine the Olympic spotlight on the Chinese government's occupation of Tibet.

SFTers around the globe have worked for years, organizing at their schools and in their communities to prepare for Beijing 2008. We've come a long way...and so has the movement for Tibetan freedom.

The nationwide uprising sparked by the peaceful protest of the monks of Drepung Monastery in March this year served to give new meaning and urgency to our work.

Now, with two weeks left in the Olympics, there is a lot more work to be done. We will keep you updated on events as they happen, and in the meantime, we'll close this message with the wise words of John Hocevar: "Tibetans are never going to give up. So let's not let them down."

In solidarity,

Tendor, Sophia, Pedro, Lhadon, Kate, Kala, Han, Heather, Yangchen, Amy, Celia, Perry, Nick, Shannon, Nathan, Josh, Matt, Brianna, Jonathan, Matt W, Kathy, Kiri, Laurel, Duane, Alma, Thupten, and many more who cannot be named!