Two British protesters arrested in Beijing for hanging a Tibetan flag outside the Olympic stadium are back in the UK.

Lucy Fairbrother, 23, and Iain Thom, 24, both members of Students for a Free Tibet group, were arrested on Wednesday morning after displaying two 140sq ft banners outside the Bird's Nest Olympic Stadium bearing Free Tibet slogans in English and Chinese for nearly an hour.

The pair - who were arrested alongside Americans Phill Bartell, 34, and Tirian Mink, 32 - were greeted by a chorus of cheers from supporters, media members and family as they landed at London City Airport.

They said they had been treated well after being arrested, but warned there would be more protests.

Ms Fairbrother, a Bristol University Classics graduate, said: "Any sort of jail time was the worst I was expecting - but in fact the Chinese government would not have allowed that to happen.

"We were perhaps saved by the incredible PR strategy surrounding these Olympics."

She added: "After our arrests we were going into the complete unknown but in fact we made friends with the officers. We ate with them, we talked about their families and we asked about their lives in Beijing.

"One officer said to me: 'We may have different opinions, but we can still be friends'.

"We are only a very small part of this campaign and the ongoing struggle. We will carry on fighting and there will be more protests during the Olympic Games."

Mr Thom, from Edinburgh, said: "We were treated well. There was some tough questioning after our arrests, but nothing in respect of the way Chinese citizens would have been treated."

The Beijing Municipal Public Security Bureau said: "They disrupted public order and violated Chinese laws. Their period of stay in the country will hereby be cut short according to the Law of the People's Republic of China on Control of the Entry and Exit of Aliens."

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