|
Chinese protesters using trucks to block the entrance to a Carrefour outlet in the eastern city of Hefei. The French retail chain has become the target of angry Chinese despite its insistence that it supports the Beijing Olympics. -- PHOTOS: AFP
|
|
|
Beijing - Waving flags and chanting patriotic slogans, hundreds, if not thousands, of protesters took to the streets of several Chinese cities yesterday to vent their anger against France and the Tibetan independence movement.
State media reports and anonymous postings on online forums here said protests of varying scale broke out in at least five cities, including the capital Beijing which is due to host the Olympics in August.
While no outbreaks of violence were reported, yesterday's protests suggested that the country's nationalist ire could not be soothed so easily once it was allowed to flare up. The Chinese government is eager to avoid a repeat of the violent anti-Japanese rallies that erupted in 2005.
Anti-Western sentiments in China have been mounting since early this month, when the Paris leg of the Olympic torch relay was severely disrupted by human rights and pro-Tibet activists. Similar disruptions were also seen in London.
Angry Internet users here have been calling for a boycott of French retailers, particularly supermarket chain Carrefour which they claim is supportive of the Tibetan movement. Carrefour has denied the accusation and maintained that it is a strong supporter of the Beijing Games.
The biggest rally yesterday appeared to have taken place in central Wuhan city, where a Carrefour outlet was forced to shut in the morning after hundreds of Chinese protesters gathered on its premises, according to photographs and postings on kdnet.net.
Carrefour outlets in the eastern cities of Hefei and Qingdao, in the south-western city of Kunming and in the north-western city of Xian were also targeted. In Beijing, minor protests lasting a few minutes were reported as police broke up gatherings near several Carrefour outlets.
The authorities also sealed off the streets leading to the French Embassy in Beijing after receiving word that protesters were heading there.
Still, about a dozen protesters turned up at the embassy holding placards proclaiming: 'Frenchmen shut up' and 'Tibet belongs to China'.
Protesters are said to be planning bigger rallies and a nationwide boycott of Carrefour on May 1, a public holiday in China. A leaflet handed out by some protesters in Beijing yesterday said: 'On May 1, we should let an empty Carrefour send out the clear message that China cannot be humiliated or bullied.'
The French Ambassador to China, Mr Herve Ladsous, and ordinary Chinese calling for cooler heads to prevail have argued that such boycotts are futile as they will hurt China just as much, given that Carrefour employs several hundred thousand local workers and sells mostly made-in-China products.
'Why are the Chinese boycotting themselves and their own products?' asked one posting on kdnet.net. 'This is madness.'
In Britain yesterday, more than 1,000 people, mainly Chinese students, gathered outside the BBC's offices in Manchester, north-west England, while around 300 staged a demonstration outside the Houses of Parliament in London. Holding up banners, they protested against the media's coverage of the Olympic torch relay and last month's unrest in Tibet.
chinhon@sph.com.sg
|
