Giselle Davies, the International Olympic Committee's director of communications, said Beijing was one of several host cities to have created protest zones.
This led to an outcry from users, who created protest videos once YouTube started muting or pulling down any user-generated content that contained WMG songs as background music.
Opponents of the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) have already shown they'll go to great lengths to oppose the controversial legislation by creating protest videos and transferring thousands of domains from pro-SOPA sites like GoDaddy.
Under pressure not to look weak, Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda decided the central government would buy the islands instead, a move that apparently was meant to calm the situation but instead created protests across China and led to unofficial boycotts of Japanese goods.
On Thursday morning, the Supreme Court unanimously ruled to strike down a Massachusetts law creating protest-free "buffer zones" around abortion clinics.
After the ratings bonanza of M-103, which resulted in far-right media created protests receiving national coverage, the usual suspects are back trying to rile up their base around another law.
They could have created protests to show public support, although the spokesman for the coup plotters, Sub-Lieutenant Daniel Mbene, justified the coup by claiming in a broadcast that the army had to act to avoid the rash of "uncontrollable demonstrations that would have been difficult to halt".
But he thinks Occupy helped create a protest environment that has allowed other political movements, such as the nebulous groups of Black Lives Matter, to flourish.
Stephen Clark, legal director of the Utah chapter of the civil liberties union, which worked closely with the city and organizers to create the protest zones, applauded efforts to protect free speech, even if they do restrict activities to certain areas.
