China will create three "protest pens" in the capital's parks to allow people to demonstrate during the Olympics, an official said yesterday.

The move follows speculation as to whether the government, which strictly limits protests, would allow public displays of dissent, especially given that the games have already been the target of campaigns on issues ranging from media freedom to Darfur and Tibet.

"This will allow people to protest without disrupting the Olympics," said Ni Jianping, the director of the Shanghai Institute of American Studies, who had lobbied for the creation of the zones.

But Human Rights Watch attacked the decision, arguing that the restrictions undermined the right to demonstrate under international law.

Nicholas Bequelin, a spokesman for HRW, said: "The obstacles and deterrents are so high as to negate the right to demonstrate.

"We are also concerned about the possibility that the authorities might use the existence of these zones to justify repressive measures against demonstrators outside of the zones.

"Aggressive or systematic videotaping, requirement for individual registrations and excessive controls at the entry and exit points of the protest zones would amount to deterring protesters, who have legitimate concerns in China about possible retaliation afterwards."

Protest zones have been created at previous games, including Athens in 2004, because the International Olympic Committee's charter bans demonstrations or "political, religious or racial propaganda" at Olympic venues or sites.

"We have dedicated places for demonstrations at several parks," Liu Shaowu, the director of the security department at Beijing's Olympics organising committee, told a news conference. "Chinese law protects the legal right of people to hold lawful demonstrations and marches."

He stressed that under Chinese law all demonstrations must be approved by police in advance, but declined to say whether that applied to the zones, or whether approval would be granted for protests outside them.

Human rights groups have already complained of a crackdown on dissent.

Reporters Without Borders said police arrested a prominent internet dissident this week for violating his probation terms.

Du Daobin, given a suspended sentence for subversion after posting essays online in support of another dissident, was arrested this week for posting articles on overseas websites and receiving guests without permission.

The family of another dissident, Ye Guozhu, said he was due for release this weekend after serving four years for organising protests against forced eviction, but had been taken away by police.

In remarks issued via the Chinese Human Rights Defenders network, his brother, Ye Guoqiang, said: "We believe that the police took him away to silence him during the games, and that he will not be released until after the Olympics, when most foreign journalists will have left Beijing."

Xuanwu public security bureau referred the Guardian to the Xuanwu detention centre. The centre said that the issue was a matter for the public security bureau.