Demonstrations against 'Tibet independence' continue in Chinese cities
Updated: 2008-04-20 15:34
BEIJING -- Demonstrations against "Tibet independence" continued in several Chinese cities on Sunday.
Demonstrators were seen in northwestern city Xi'an, and the northeastern city Harbin and eastern city Jinan following Saturday's demonstrations in Beijing, Xi'an, the eastern cities of Hefei and Qingdao, the central city of Wuhan, and the southwestern city of Kunming.
They gathered in front of outlets of the French supermarket chain Carrefour, chanting "Oppose Tibet independence", and "Oppose CNN's anti-China statements" on Sunday morning.
Police were monitoring the demonstrations, which had no effect on the supermarkets' normal operations.
More than 1,000 students and citizens in front of the Carrefour in Xi'an held banners, saying "Strongly oppose CNN's anti-China statements" and "Condemn Tibet secessionist in France tearing up the Five-Star Red Flag".
They chanted "Support the Olympics", "Go China" and "Condemn CNN" through loudspeakers.
About 50 of the demonstrators wore the same kind of red tee-shirts. Passers-by joined them in chanting slogans.
Carrefour has been accused by Chinese Internet users of supporting the Dalai Lama group, which Carrefour China denied in a statement released on Wednesday.
"Today's activity is simply an awareness-raising activity, aimed at finding a way out for the patriotic emotions of our students," said Wu Sheng, Xi'an resident and one of the organizers.
"We do not support a boycott of French companies because the economy is globalizing. We choose Carrefour front doors only because we draw more attention there," Wu said.
The organizers folded the banners and persuaded the crowds to disperse as the number of the demonstrators kept increasing at around 11:00 a.m., in order to control the situation.
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