|
CHINESE state media and Internet users yesterday slammed the French police for being 'incompetent', and said France should be ashamed of the disruptions to the Paris-leg of the Olympic torch relay.
'France did not properly protect the Olympic flame,' the mass market Global Times tabloid said on its front page, a day after hundreds of pro-Tibet and human rights activists disrupted the relay through the French capital.
'What happened in Paris on April 7 caused some unhappiness for the Chinese people, but more importantly, it is a humiliation for Paris and France,' added the newspaper, known for the nationalistic tone of its stories.
Officials in Beijing also denounced the protests, but steered clear of waging a diplomatic war of words over the torch relay, which was similarly dogged by protests as it travelled through London at the weekend.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Jiang Yu merely said that the French police had 'put in effort' for the torch relay.
But the stepped-up intensity of the protests in Paris - which forced officials to extinguish the torch and carry it by bus - clearly touched off a raw nerve among many Chinese nationals at home and abroad.
Thousands of them left angry messages on online forums criticising the French authorities.
Fifteen out of 20 ordinary Chinese polled by The Straits Times also said they were outraged by reports of how protesters tried to grab or extinguish the torch by charging at the torch bearers.
'The British government did not fulfil its responsibility (of protecting the Olympic torch), and the French government did worse,' said Mr Zhang Dong, 40, who runs a translation company.
The torch relay, which began its 130-day journey on April 1, is expected to be greeted by more protests along stops such as San Francisco, New Delhi, Canberra, and Hong Kong.
Observers believe that the protests in San Francisco, where the torch arrives today, could easily top the ones in London and Paris.
However, pro-China groups comprising overseas Chinese students and residents are banding together as 'protectors' of the torch relay.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Jiang sought to downplay concerns of a major confrontation.
'We are also confident that through our joint efforts, the torch relay in the United States will go safely,' she said, referring to Beijing's close coordination with US officials.
Still, Ms Tan Haiying, 37, who works at a Chinese bank in Beijing, said: 'I am rather worried...as these protesters won't give up so easily.'
This article was first published in The Straits Times on April 9, 2008
 |
Is this article useful to you?
|
|
|
|
|
|
| 
