They marched in the streets and gave artistic performances at the New Haven Green, a public park in downtown New Haven, Connecticut, next to Yale's Old Campus buildings.

Dou Wei, one of the organizers, said a special temporary body called the Committee for Supporting the Beijing Olympic Games at Yale and Connecticut was established a week ago by Yale's Chinese students and local Chinese residents who have been closely following the latest developments in events related to the Beijing Olympic Games.

"We definitely want to improve human rights conditions in China, but I don't think simply boycotting the Olympic Games can help," said Huang Cong, former president of the Association of Chinese Students and Scholars at Yale (ACSSY).

"In fact, we are hurt by the media distortion, which is not supposed to exist in this 'free' country," he said.

Several groups of artists from Yale's music school and other communities in Connecticut and New York gave performances at the rally, said Wang Chuan, another former ACSSY president.

The performance of the artists, comprising both Chinese and Americans, was aimed at celebrating "the unity of the Chinese and American peoples in supporting the Olympic Games," Wang said.

Organizers said some 200 Olympic-themed T-shirts, 300 bumper stickers, 500 Chinese national flags and 500 pamphlets were distributed to on-lookers during the three-hour event, which passed off peacefully.

(Xinhua News Agency April 28, 2008)