More Protests Erupt at China Carrefour Stores, 9 Detained
rotesters waved Chinese flags and shouted slogans outside Carrefour stores in Beijing and other cities Thursday, venting anger over the disruption of the Olympic torch relay. No violence was reported and police dispersed the gatherings.
The French retailer has borne much of the nationalistic backlash after a pro-Tibet protester in Paris tried to grab the Olympic torch from a Chinese athlete in a wheelchair. Chinese Web sites have accused Carrefour of supporting the exiled Tibetan leader the Dalai Lama, but the company denied that.
In Beijing, a handful of protesters at a Carrefour in the Haidian university district were outnumbered by dozens of police who guarded the store, which was packed with shoppers. Police detained seven men and two women. One of the men carried a sign saying ``Protest Carrefour, Protest CNN'' as about 200 spectators cheered. U.S.-based CNN has been a focus of complaints that foreign news coverage of China's crackdown on Tibet is biased.
``We want to let all foreigners know that China is very angry today. We have to let Chinese people in China know that we are united,'' a protester said as he was led to a police van.
Protesters also carried banners and chanted slogans at Carrefour stores in Changsha in central China, Fuzhou in the southeast, Chongqing in the southwest and Shenyang in the northeast, the government's Xinhua News Agency reported. It said hundreds of people demonstrated in Changsha and 400 were on hand in Fuzhou, but it gave no other details.
The protests occurred despite Beijing's efforts to discourage them and to calm anti-French sentiment.
Calls for boycotts of foreign companies have been deleted from Web sites. A top figure in the ruling Communist Party, Jia Qinglin, called Wednesday for Chinese to channel their ``patriotic passion'' into holding a successful Beijing Olympics in August.
Chinese emotions have run high since deadly anti-Chinese protests in Tibet in March. Nationalists complain that foreign news reports about Tibet are biased and accuse foreigners of wanting to see the Himalayan territory split from China.
The Tibet protests were a propaganda disaster for Beijing, which wants the Olympics to showcase China as a stable, prosperous society.
Carrefour outlets in a dozen cities were the target of earlier protests, with scuffles erupting between Chinese and foreigners. Paris-based Carrefour is China's biggest retailer, with 112 outlets in areas throughout the country.
The Chinese and French governments have tried to heal their diplomatic rift over the Paris protests. French President Nicolas Sarkozy sent a letter to the Chinese athlete saying the attempt to grab the torch did not reflect the feelings of the French people.
Carrefour expressed support this week for the Beijing Olympics.
``The attack on the torch and athletes violated the Olympic spirit and harmed the feelings of Chinese people and we feel regret and anger about this,'' Jean Luc Lhuillier, the company's China vice president, said in a company statement.
Phone calls to Carrefour officials Thursday were not answered.
Carrefour canceled advertising for a May Day holiday sale in an apparent effort to lower its public profile amid calls for a boycott and protests.
The company ran into problems earlier when it tried to appeal to Chinese customers by having employees wear T-shirts with China's flag and caps with the Olympic logo. Beijing Olympics organizers said that violated copyright rules, according to news reports.
At a Carrefour on Beijing's east side on Thursday, there was no sign of protests and the store was packed with shoppers.
One woman said she came to see whether there would be protests and stayed to shop.
``I heard about it, but didn't think it would happen,'' said the woman, who would give only her surname, Liu. ``And since I was here, I figured I would pick up some things.''
In Shanghai, three university students stood outside a Carrefour handing out heart-shaped stickers that said ``My Chinese heart.'' But they said they were not protesting.
``We just want to show our support for China,'' said one student, Michael Chen. ``We are not protesting anything.''
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Associated Press writers Cara Anna in Shanghai and Anita Chang in Beijing contributed to this report.
Thu May 1, 2008 06:53 EDT
JOE McDONALD
Associated Press Writer
BEIJING
rotesters waved Chinese flags and shouted slogans outside Carrefour stores in Beijing and other cities Thursday, venting anger over the disruption of the Olympic torch relay. No violence was reported and police dispersed the gatherings.
