Comment: Forced evictions before China's Olympics

Reporters gathering in Beijing for the start of the Olympics in three weeks time have focused attention on a house that has been standing alone in the middle of a flower bed. Its owners have refused to move on.  Last night  it seems they were forcefully evicted. This morning the house is a pile of rubble:

Forced evictions before China's Olympics  is the BBC's footage on that story and a similar one out of Beijing earlier this year.

Before I say anything else, I do not seek to downplay this story. Nothing justifies violence. But it is going to focus yet another bout of outrage at China, so I do want to make some comment and put it in context. [Read on on the extension of this page.]