A British man was taken away after unfurling banners that denounced China’s human rights record on a major bridge in Hong Kong ahead of the Beijing Olympics’ opening ceremony Friday.

Other protesters critical of China’s human rights record were expected to demonstrate later in the day near the venue of the Olympic equestrian event in Hong Kong.

Matt Pearce, a longtime Hong Kong resident from Bristol, England, hung two banners on road signs on Hong Kong’s Tsing Ma Bridge that said, “We want human rights and democracy” and “The people of China want freedom from oppression.”

Officials shut down traffic on the bridge’s upper deck where Pearce was protesting