Have a read of this article in the Wall Street Journal that looks at the reaction of the activists that have been protesting the Beijing Olympics to China's devastating earthquake:

Before the earthquake, China's image abroad had taken a beating. The first big blow came from news of violence in Lhasa and ethnic Tibetan areas elsewhere in China, and the government crackdown that followed. Impressions only worsened when protesters of all stripes, including those opposed to China's policies toward Tibet and others eager to link its investments in the Sudan with atrocities in Darfur, converged on the Olympic torch relay in London, Paris and San Francisco.

But the earthquake has, in a sense, shelved the debate over China's track record, altering the political calculus.

"The tone of advocacy has to change because of the earthquake," says Jill Savitt, director of Dream for Darfur campaign, which has been protesting China's support of the Sudanese government. "It would really be unwise and unstrategic to continue to pound on China and not to realize that there have been hundreds of thousands of people who have been killed and wounded. It would be foolhardy."

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While the mood seems to have shifted, at least momentarily, it is unclear whether the outpouring of sympathy that the earthquake has provoked will run dry before the Games begin just over 11 weeks from now.

I think there is a good chance that the sympathy may linger. It could also if necessary be intentionally rekindled via public relations and propaganda. The earthquake has changed at a stroke what the theme of the games will be. Before it was about national pride and China's emergence as a great power. Now it is --or should be-- about healing and recovery from a terrible natural disaster. If the opening ceremony, or even the entirety of the Games, is positioned as a commemoration of the terrible events of last week, then disruptions and protests will seem downright churlish.

That doesn't mean that they won't happen, but it might shift the balance of perception in the same way that the ill-advised tackling of a pretty girl in a wheelchair in Paris did just a few short weeks ago.

See also:

A New York Times article on the quake's impact on pro-Tibet PR campaigners.