Apr

7

China denounces London Olympic torch protest

Filed Under World News | Posted By Jennifer Sullivan |

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China on Monday denounced protests that determined the Beijing Olympic torch relay through London, while state media proclaimed approaching trials of people accused of rioting in the Tibetan capital.

Protesters opposing a security drive in Tibet and asking for the mountain region’s independence turned Sunday’s London leg of the torch’s journey into a barrier course of angry disturbance – not what China sought for its “journey of harmony”.

At least 35 people were detained and the wedge of police securing the Olympic torch at one point were compelled to hustle it on to a double-decker bus when about 100 protesters tried to snatch it.

An official cited by the state-run Xinhua news agency was openly angry.

An unnamed spokesperson of the Beijing Olympic Games torch relay office said, “We strongly condemn this vile behaviour.”

Tibet’s capital, Lhasa, was hit by Buddhist monks’ protests against Chinese rule last month that gave way to lethal rioting on March 14, and since then security forces are trying to reimpose control there and in other areas.

Protest Magnet
The Olympic flame is likely to remain a magnet for anti-Chinese protests ahead of the Games in Beijing, with campaigns intended at Tibet and also at Sudan, where critics say Beijing has not done adequate to help stop deadly struggle in Darfur.

Chinese officials have accused the Buddhist leader, the Dalai Lama, of organizing the unrest. The Dalai Lama has frequently denied the allegations and said he wants true independence, but not absolute independence, for Tibet.

The first group of suspects will soon go on trial in Lhasa, the China News Service reported, citing officials.

Prosecutors have sent 17 people for examination on charges of “arson homicide.” An official cited said the accused would “get the harsh sanction of the law”.

China says 19 people died in the Lhasa riot, but representatives of the Dalai Lama stated some 140 people butchered in the unrest across Tibet and nearby areas.

The Olympic flame arrives in Paris on Monday before crossing the ocean to San Francisco, where the atmosphere is likely to be edgy.



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