Anti-China protests worldwide as Olympics begin

As the Olympic Games began, anti-China demonstrations were staged in cities across the world.

Chinese security forces detain three foreign protestors as they stage a protest and open Tibetan flags an hour before the Olympic opening ceremony near the Bird's nest stadium in Beijing. The three mShow more

LONDON // A protester set himself on fire outside the Chinese Embassy in the Turkish capital and thousands of Tibetan exiles took to the streets in Nepal, as anti-China demonstrations occurred worldwide to coincide with the start of the Beijing Olympics. By the end yesterday, protests that had begun in Asia, were also taking place in London, Paris, Brussels and Amsterdam. The US president George Bush, who was in Beijing for the opening ceremony, expressed confidence that China's future would reflect "the universal aspirations of mankind," despite criticism of a lack of freedom in the world' most populous country. The president said that he had made clear to Chinese leaders that trusting their people with greater freedom is necessary for China to reach its full potential. "We've emphasised that being a global economic leader carries with it the duty to act responsibly on matters from energy to the environment to development in Africa," he said.

In Ankara, a demonstrator suffered second-degree burns after setting himself on fire during a rally by several hundred ethnic Uighurs, officials said. He was identified as a 35-year-old from Turkey's local Uighur community, an ethnic minority in China seeking independence or greater autonomy.

In Katmandu, Nepal's capital, thousands of Tibetan exiles demonstrated at the Chinese Embassy, shouting, "China, thief: Leave our country. Stop killing in Tibet." Police forcibly dispersed the protesters, some of whom tried to storm the embassy, Ramesh Thapa, a polic official, said. More than 1,000 people were detained for violating a ban on demonstrations - the largest number of Tibetans detained in a single day in Katmandu.

In India, more than 2,000 protesters marched in Dharmsala, a northern hill town that is home to the Tibetan government-in-exile and the Dalai Lama, Tibet's spiritual leader. In China, three Americans who planned to hold Tibetan flags during the opening ceremony were detained by police as they travelled to Beijing National Stadium, the Students for a Free Tibet executive director Lhadon Tethong said. Police did not confirm the incident.

While the spectacle of the opening ceremonies was broadcast on large screens in Trafalgar Square in London, the Chinese Embassy was the focus for protesters railing against the country's treatment of people in Tibet, Sudan, Zimbabwe and Myanmar. "The Olympics shouldn't have been offered to China on the basis of their human rights record," said Liawang Tsang, whose family fled Tibet nine years ago.

But he welcomed the Olympics for putting the spotlight on it. About 300 people gathered in front of the embassy, most wearing red headbands in memory of people killed in Tibet. A small counter-demonstration took place nearby. In San Francisco, Buddhist monks holding up the Tibetan flag and chanting a Sanskrit mantra for love and compassion led between 200 and 300 protesters bearing banners across the Golden Gate Bridge.

The crowd, clad in yellow, drew honks and the occasional "Free Tibet" cheers from passing tourists. In Paris, a judge reversed a local authority ban on protests around the Chinese Embassy and demonstrators marched there. A man and a woman climbed the front of a five-story building, unfurled a large banner picturing the Olympic rings as handcuffs and attached it to the top floor balcony.

Police dragged the pair away when they reached the ground, scaled the building and retrieved the banner, as protesters booed. Hundreds in Brussels joined the global protest, with five demonstrators standing outside the European Union headquarters with Olympic rings around their necks, bloodstained bandages on their heads and their wrists bound in chains to call for a free Tibet. In Amsterdam, many protesters ran or cycled from the stadium that hosted the 1928 Olympic Games just outside the city, waving Tibetan flags.

One protester, Lobsang, 30, said he had fled his monastery in Tibet six years ago after being caught with a book written by the Dalai Lama and beaten. "It's important that we show the world that we stand up for those in prison and dying" in Tibet, he said. "We in free countries should support them."

In China, authorities were on their highest alert, guarding against anyone who might try to take the shine off the opening ceremony watched worldwide. Tiananmen Square in Beijing was sealed off. Foreigners who have protested in recent days were deported, and Chinese who did the same were in custody. The tight controls imposed by China's autocratic government have so far ensured that the handful of protests in the host city have been small and relatively quiet.

In semiautonomous Hong Kong, Matt Pearce, a British citizen, was detained after unfurling two banners on a major bridge reading: "We want human rights and democracy" and "The people of China want freedom from oppression". AP/AFP