Shedding light

Three members of Reporters Without Borders ran onto the field to disrupt the flame lighting ceremony for the Beijing Olympic Games torch.

Three members of the Paris-based group Reporters Without Borders were detained after their protest, which occurred as Liu Qi, president of the Beijing Olympics organizing committee and Beijing Communist Party Secretary, was giving a speech. Police confirmed they had detained three French nationals.

One protester held a black banner showing the Olympic rings as handcuffs. The group said three members, including the group's secretary general Robert Menard, managed to get into the ceremony without being stopped.

"If the Olympic flame is sacred, human rights are even more so," the group said in a statement. "We cannot let the Chinese government seize the Olympic flame, a symbol of peace, without denouncing the dramatic situation of human rights in the country."

The group has urged heads of state to boycott the games' opening ceremony.

To read more about their efforts to shed light on the Olympics in Beijing you can visit their website.