Human rights activists urge boycott of 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, citing China’s human rights abuses

Monday's ceremony in Greece, which handed the Olympic flame over to 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics organizers, was protested by activists who unfurled a Tibetan flag and a banner that said "no genocide," according to No Beijing 2022.

"We have yet again borne witness to the hypocrisy (of the IOC)," said Mandie McKeown, the executive director for the International Tibet Network, at a news conference in Athens. "They're handing over the Olympic torch to a host government that is so far removed from holding any of (the Olympic) ideals that it seems we're living in a kind of warped reality."

Despite outcry in recent years of the Chinese government's treatment of the Uyghur people in Xinjiang, the treatment of the Hong Kong protestors, and recent escalations with Taiwan, the IOC has continued on with plans for the Chinese capital city to hold the next Olympics.

IOC President Thomas Bach stressed in his speech at the ancient stadium of Olympia on Monday that the Games must be "respected as politically neutral ground," according to CP24.

"If this press conference was to take place in China, I, as an Uyghur, would end up in a camp and maybe be subjected to sexual abuse and torture, as millions of my fellow Uyghurs are," said Zumretay Arkin, the World Uyghur Congress program and advocacy manager. "The Olympic Games are being handed over to a country actively committing a genocide."

During June's G-7 summit, Biden reportedly pressed fellow leaders "to include specific language criticizing China's use of forced labor and other human rights abuses in their joint statement," according to CP24.

Arkin urged that the G-7 governments to follow up on those actions by boycotting the Beijing Games.

"We believe that we have a better chance today ahead of the Games that governments commit to a boycott ... than we had previously in 2008," she said.

Pema Doma, campaign director for Students for a Free Tibet, said the IOC was making "a very big mistake" in allowing the games to continue.

"How can anyone think that there is not a red line anywhere in the world for genocide?" said Doma. Doma was briefly arrested by police in Athens before Monday's protest.

Three activists were detained Monday during the handover ceremony after sneaking into the strongly-guarded site of Ancient Olympia during the flame lighting while waving a Tibetan flag and a banner that read "No genocide games."

Four more were reportedly detained outside the site, while two more protesters were detained in Athens on Sunday after a protest on the Acropolis, according to CP24.

The first three detained remain in police custody in southern Greece, while the latter seven have been released.

The Beijing Winter Olympics will run from Feb. 4-20, with only spectators from mainland China being allowed to attend.