Protests against French supermarket Carrefour spread to several Chinese cities
By HENRY SANDERSON | Associated Press | Apr 19, 08 7:05 AM CDT in
World
Protests against French supermarket Carrefour spread to several cities across China on Saturday, fueled by anger over recent pro-Tibet demonstrations in Paris during the Olympic torch relay.
Hundreds of protesters gathered outside a Carrefour store in Wuhan in central Hubei province carrying Chinese flags and pictures of Mao Zedong, the late Communist Party chairman, photographs show.
A woman working at a store in the same building as Carrefour in Wuhan, who gave only her surname Wang, estimated about 1,000 people took part in the demonstration, mostly young people in their 20s. They held banners and sang the national anthem, she said.
Hong Kong broadcaster Cable TV reported several thousand protesters gathered outside the Carrefour in Hefei, in eastern China's Anhui province. A staff member confirmed a demonstration occurred and the store had closed, but she would not provide details and hung up without providing her name.
Protests at Carrefour stores in the southwestern city of Kunming, the popular tourist city Xian in northern China, and the port city of Qingdao also took place Saturday, other photos show.
A woman who answered the phone at the Kunming Carrefour confirmed there had been a demonstration and said "a lot of people are still outside protesting." She refused to give her name saying media should speak to Carrefour's public relations department.
The unrest in Tibet and protests during the worldwide Olympic torch relay have created a backlash of anger inside China against those viewed as supporting independence for Tibet.
Protesters in Xian carried pictures of Jin Jing, a disabled, little-known fencing athlete, who has become a household name after clinging stubbornly to the torch while a Tibet supporter tried to wrestle it away during the Olympic torch relay in Paris on April 7.
On Saturday, small protests broke out in Beijing at one Carrefour, and outside the French Embassy, where one placard read "Tibet is part of China." Official Xinhua News Agency also reported a protest in front of the Beijing French School.
"We're supporting the Olympics and boycotting Tibetan independence," said the organizer of the protest at the Beijing Carrefour, who refused to give his name.
France-based Carrefour said in a statement last week it had always supported the Beijing Olympics. Carrefour is the second-largest hypermarket in the world after Wal-Mart Stores Inc. It has 122 stores in China employing 40,000 people.
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