Post-Olympic stress disorder

摘要

In beijing's eastern suburbs, the end of the Olympics last month emboldened hundreds of residents to take their grievances to the streets. The government was claiming that the city's air was cleaner for the Olympics than it had been in a decade. But stench from a waste-disposal plant was smothering their homes. Freed from Olympic constraints, they felt it was time to protest. They were not alone. After a lull, news of protests around China about all sorts of issues is again trickling out.rnThe authorities take a dim view of protests at the best of times. During the Olympics they were particularly anxious to keep the disgruntled out of sight. And many citizens themselves wanted the games to go smoothly. A handful of foreigners staged protests in Beijing, but none involving Chinese was reported. Those who applied for permission to protest were persuaded by police to change their minds, sometimes menacingly.