A UK activist, Daniel Hurley, has found one of the few concrete things that individuals can do after watching TV footage of the crisis in Bhurma. Reasoning that one of the two outside influences on the Bhurmese government, and the hardest to influence itself, is desperately keen to appear modern and respectable in its planned Beijing Olympics, the petition asks the prime minister to withdraw UK government co-operation unless the Beijing government helps heal the situation.

Details of what is intended are unclear, and perhaps unimportant as the only purpose of a petition is to bring a point of vew to the UK government's attention. The more popular ones are treated in much the same way as a question to a minister in the house of commons, with an erudite civil service brush-off, but the idea itself and the strength of support may attract interest in the British government and the Chinese one.

The petition on
 http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/Boycott-Olympics/
reads: "China has continued to support the illegitimate Junta that continues to rule Burma. Recently Burma has seen massive peaceful protests from Monks and ordinary citizens alike, despite this the Junta has cracked down and begun the murder of the peaceful protesters. When an emergency session of the UNSC was called - China blocked Sanctions against the Junta. I feel that it is Immoral and unjust that China be able to benefit from western economies and obtain money that would come from the Olympic games they are due to host. I call on the British government to boycott the '08 Olympic games in response to this disgraceful situation."

No obvious pictures are available on  https://burma.indymedia.org where the server is unable to cope with demand.