Tension follows Olympic torch into China

Tension and anger burned on despite the return of the Olympic torch to China yesterday after a five-continent tour dogged by protests over Beijing's crackdown on rioting Tibetans.

Hundreds of Chinese demonstrated in front of outlets of French supermarket chain Carrefour, which has become a target of national disgust over the chaotic torch relay in Paris. Three Tibetan activists barred from travelling to Hong Kong, where the first leg the torch's three-month China tour will be held today, warned the flame would reignite unrest when it passes through Tibet in June.

"Tibetans will do everything in their power to protest during the torch relay," said Lhadon Tethong, executive director of Students for a Free Tibet and one of the three activists put on a flight from Hong Kong earlier this week.

"Clearly the Olympic torch relay is already resulting in more repression inside Tibet and increasing the climate of fear that Tibetans were already being subjected to," she added in a live webcast with the two others.

Buddhist monk-led protests erupted into the worst unrest in Tibet for two decades in March, in which Beijing says at least 18 innocent civilians were killed.

The rioting and immediate crackdown threw a spotlight on the Himalayan region at an awkward time for China's Communist Party leaders, who are counting on the Beijing Olympic Games in August to underline their country's modernity and prosperity.

In a sign that tensions remain high with less than 100 days to go before the Games, state media reported this week that a police officer and a suspected riot leader had been shot dead in a gunbattle in an ethnic Tibetan part of western China. China has blamed Tibet's exiled spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, for plotting the unrest in the remote, mountain region that Chinese troops entered in 1950.

The Nobel Peace laureate denies the charges, and insists he does not want independence.

Hong Kong authorities deported half a dozen activists this week ahead of the latest leg of the Olympic torch relay, today, possibly because they feared a repeat of disruptions by protesters in London, Paris and San Francisco.

But actress Mia Farrow was allowed into Hong Kong yesterday to give a speech expected to criticise China's ties with Sudan, another issue that activists believe is a raw nerve they can hit ahead of the Beijing Games.

"We... thought it was entirely likely that we'd arrive at the airport and be put on a plane going back to where we came from," said Jill Savitt, executive director of Dream for Darfur, a New York-based advocacy group, who travelled with Farrow.

But she said Ms Farrow and herself were "graciously welcomed" in the end, after immigration officials explained that any disruptions to the torch relay would be unwelcome. Ms Farrow speaks to the Hong Kong Foreign Correspondents Club today.

The official Xinhua news agency said hundreds of people demonstrated outside Carrefour stores across mainland China yesterday, denouncing the idea of Tibetan independence and voicing support for the Beijing Olympics.

"We're here because of what happened in Paris where there were violent protests. We're here to show the outside world has a misperception about China, that Chinese people are united and firm, but you can see that we're not at all violent," said one protester, who would only give his family name, Lan.

The French retailer has become the focus for an outpouring of Chinese nationalism and indignation after the chaotic torch relay in Paris, which saw pro-Tibet protesters trying to snatch the flame away from a wheelchair-bound athlete, Jin Jing.

Much of China's hopes and pride have been invested in a group of mountaineers who are planning to take a special Olympic flame to the world's highest mountain, Everest.

However, the climbers were held up at an advanced base camp on the Chinese side of Everest yesterday, awaiting better weather before heading to the 8,848-metre peak.

"Normally there is a three- to-four day window of good weather in the first week of May," said Sun Bin, the project manager and a former national climbing champion. "We want to try to catch this window to try and summit."

As part of efforts to create a relatively smoke-free Olympics, authorities broadened regulations against smoking in public places to include sports venues, parks, public transport and schools. Restaurants and hotels are exempted.