Over the weekend, the tables were turned when their cities became sites of anti-Western demonstrations.

In Paris, up to 4,000 Chinese rallied at the Place de la Republique wearing T-shirts with the slogan 'One China, One family' and brandishing signs critical of the Western media. Similar protests took place in Vienna and Berlin.

The British Broadcasting Corporation was also targeted. More than 1,000 people, mainly students, demonstrated on Saturday in front of its offices in Manchester, while 300 staged a rally at the Houses of Parliament in London.

In the US, up to 5,000 people marched outside CNN's Hollywood office in Los Angeles on Saturday to demand the sacking of commentator Jack Cafferty, who recently compared China's leaders to a 'bunch of goons and thugs'.

Police said the crowd, which chanted and held signs that read 'Fire Cafferty' and 'CNN: Chinese Negative News', was peaceful.

Protests targeting French supermarket Carrefour in China continued for a second day yesterday.

Carrefour has been accused of supporting the Dalai Lama, a claim its chief executive Jose Luis Duran denies. He told Journal du Dimanche that while there had been no significant impact on takings from Carrefour's 112 stores in China, the company was taking the situation seriously.

Chinese state media said more than 1,000 people rallied at the Carrefour in Xian, and protests were also held at Carrefour outlets in Harbin, Dalian, Jinan and Wuhan.

Nationalistic sentiments ran high in Beijing as well as Wuhan, Kunming, Xian and Qingdao. Protesters are said to be planning a nationwide boycott of Carrefour on May 1, a public holiday in China.

But, apparently mindful that the French supermarket sold mainly made-in-China goods, an organiser of the Xian protest, Mr Wu Sheng, was quoted as saying: 'We do not support a boycott of French companies because the economy is globalising.

'We choose Carrefour's front doors only because we draw more attention there.'

Anti-Western sentiments have been simmering after officials accused Western media organisations, including CNN and the BBC, of giving so-called 'distorted' coverage of the unrest in Tibet.

The leaders of Britain and Germany will skip the Beijing Olympics' opening ceremony in August and French President Nicolas Sarkozy is considering doing the same.

But in a sign that France wants to mend fences after the chaotic torch run in Paris, it is sending two envoys to Beijing this week with messages from Mr Sarkozy and his predecessor Jacques Chirac.

The Olympic torch, which was relayed through Bangkok without incident, will be paraded through the streets of Kuala Lumpur today.

Yesterday, a front-page editorial in the official People's Daily newspaper called on the Chinese people to cherish patriotism 'while expressing it in a rational way'.

'The more complicated the international situation is, the more calm, wisdom and unity need to be shown by the Chinese people,' it said.

ASSOCIATED PRESS, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, REUTERS

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