Beijing Olympic games begin in shadow of lockdowns, human rights abuses

The opening ceremony on Friday marked the beginning of the second Olympic Games to take place in the era of the pandemic.

General View inside the stadium of the Olympic Cauldron as a firework display is seen above during the Opening Ceremony of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics

By Sophie Mann

The Beijing Winter Olympics officially started Friday with the games' opening ceremony – the second to be held during the coronavirus pandemic.

The ceremony is being held in the stadium in which the 2008 Summer Olympics began and will celebrate the recent Chinese New Year. The venue can hold 90,000 spectators, but attendance will be very limited because of COVID-19.

As with most Olympics, the games begin amid international, political controversy, with the virus safety precautions at the center of the 2022 Winter games as well as China's record of human rights abuses.

Some human rights groups have dubbed these olympics the "Genocide Game."

Notably, a member of China's Uyghur Muslim minority, against whom the Chinese government is currently committing a genocide, delivered the final Olympic flame symbolizing the beginning of the games.

Many Western nations opted to enact a diplomatic boycott of the games, which has subsequently given Russian President Vladimir Putin a chance to confab with Chinese President Xi Jinping away from the watchful eyes of Western allies, amid concern Russia will invade neighboring Ukraine.