Online Tickets Broker TICKETFINDER.com™ Decides to Halt the Sale of 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics Tickets

January 08, 2008

TICKETFINDER.com™, an online ticketing portal offering tickets to all major sports events, theater shows and concerts, recently announced the discontinuation of sale of tickets to the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics scheduled to commence on August 08, 2008. The decision was brought about as a result of repeated proofs highlighting China's violation of Human Rights and Child Labor Laws. In addition to Human Rights violations, China is also battling with the issues of air pollution and potential for boycotts from pro-Tibetan organizations.

Shedding light on his decision to boycott the sale of 2008 Summer Olympics tickets, Mr. David A Boitano, CEO of TICKETFINDER.com™, says, "The Olympics symbolize peace, harmony and oneness and a country which has such widespread Human Rights violations, I believe, cannot do justice to an event which calls for world peace. China's Human Rights violations have always been, and currently are, systematic. The Chinese government continues to suppress dissenting opinions and maintains political control over the legal system. We feel that at this time China is not a country that we want to support any more than we are forced to. Until they can prove that they have stopped violating Human Rights, started complying with Child Labor Laws and allow their citizens the freedoms we all enjoy, we will continue to hold this position."

When, in 2001, the International Olympic Committee awarded the 2008 Olympic Games to Beijing, it did so as the Beijing bidding committee pledged that the hosting of the Games "will help the development of Human Rights" and most notably, "there will be no restrictions on media reporting and movement of journalists up-to and including the Olympic Games". 

One year before the Olympics were to start, there had been no tangible improvement of Human Rights in China and the situation does not seen to improve as August readily approaches. Media freedom is nowhere in sight, China continues to execute several times more people than the rest of the world combined (an estimated 8,000-10,000 people each year), torture continues to be widespread and, as Human Rights Watch recently reported, Human Rights violations are taking place in direct relation to the Olympic Games themselves. Hundreds of thousands of Beijing residents have been evicted without proper compensation.

China successfully held the Asian Games and the East Asian Games in the past years and although facts have repeatedly proved that China has the strong ability to organize large-scale sports events, the country's authorities will have to give the world some definite proofs of its improvement in the field on Human Rights, the best being the release of Ye Guozhu and of all journalists and others who merely exercised freedom of expression. Recently, Chinese scholars and citizens petitioned the Chinese regime to take actions to improve human rights, the open letter "One World, One Dream and Universal Human Rights " also wrote to worldwide citizens who seek to protect Human Rights and promote democracy.

"Our decision to discontinue the sale and market of 2008 Summer Olympics tickets has nothing to do with China as a nation but its policies which are inhumane and should be abolished as soon as possible. There has been a lot of unrest since China was picked as the host nation and, at one point of time, it was almost certain that the games would be boycotted. Although that is not happening, we are protesting in our own way and the tickets will not be put on sale again till China does not provide the world with a definite proof of its innocence", says Mr. Boitano.

"If you have any suggestions or comments about our decision or TICKETFINDER.com™ in general, please feel free to contact me personally. We will be glad to hear from you", he further adds.

About TICKETFINDER.com™:

TICKETFINDER.com™ is a leading online ticketing portal with tickets to all major sports events, theater shows and concerts worldwide. In business since 1990, TICKETFINDER.com™ is not only one of the original licensed and bonded ticket brokers in the U.S., but also represents more than 1,000 brokers around the world. 

In 2000, the website started a service called Run of House™ ticketing service which allows clients to purchase tickets that are still available through the box office, at face value plus a small fee. TICKETFINDER.com™ tickets can be ordered online or via telephone and each ticket is accompanied by free shipping and lowest price guarantee options.

For more information, please contact:

David A Boitano, CEO

TICKETFINDER.com™

236 West Portal Ave Suite 360

San Francisco, CA 94127

800-523-1515 - USA & Canada

650-757-3514 - Worldwide

650-997-4694 - Fax

david@ticketfinder.com

www.TicketFinder.com

www.TicketFinder.com/blog

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