Thorbjoern Jagland, chairman of the Nobel Peace Prize committee, placed the gold medal on an empty chair in honor of dissident Liu Xiaobo at the city hall in Oslo. (Odd Andersen/AFP/Getty Images)
The Nobel Peace Prize committee honored Liu Xiaobo, who is serving an 11-year sentence in China for his 2008 document calling for democracy, at a ceremony in Norway. Xiaobo was represented on the stage by an empty chair. Nobel Chairman Thorbjorn Jagland called for Xiaobo's release, comparing his situation to that of former South African president Nelson Mandela and Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
China, which blocked television coverage of the event and clamped down on internet communications referring to it, called the Nobel ceremony a "political farce." China boycotted the ceremony and was joined by 17 other countries, including Russia and Pakistan. Under pressure from the EU and human rights groups, Serbia reversed its decision to boycott at the last minute.
In his absence, a statement Xiaobo wrote before being jailed in 2009 was read aloud. In the document, entitled "I Have No Enemies,", he wrote:
"I hope to be able to transcend my personal experiences as I look upon our nation's development and social change, to counter the regime's hostility with utmost goodwill, and to dispel hatred with love."
Liu Xiaobo's wife, Liu Xia, was prevented from traveling to Oslo to receive the award and the accompanying $1.4 million prize. Police maintained a presence at her Beijing home, and her telephone and internet have been cut off.
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Protesters threw bottles and paint at the vehicle, shattering one of its windows. Their vehicle had been temporarily separated from its security escort in the throng of demonstrators.
Students have taken to the streets in recent days in London to protest the increase in tuition, part of a broader austerity program being enacted throughout the British government's budget.
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