Beijing ? Two elderly Chinese women who applied to hold a protest during the Olympics were ordered to spend a year in a labor camp, a relative said Wednesday. Police later squelched a pro-Tibet demonstration.

The women were still at home three days after being officially notified they would have to serve a yearlong term of re-education through labor, but were under surveillance by a government-backed neighborhood group, said Li Xuehui, the son of one of the women.

Li said no cause was given for the order to imprison his 79-year-old mother, Wu Dianyuan, and her neighbor Wang Xiuying, 77.

Meanwhile, swarms of plainclothes police set upon four foreign activists early today as they tried to stage a protest against Chinese rule over Tibet – the latest in a series of unsanctioned demonstrations to occur during the Olympics.