The ****trait of a Violent "Olympic Host" -- Chinese clash with
protesters at torch run in Seoul
International Herald Tribune
Chinese clash with protesters at torch run in Seoul
By Sang-Hun Choe
Sunday, April 27, 2008
SEOUL: Thousands of young Chinese assembled to defend their country's
troubled Olympic torch relay pushed through police lines on Sunday, some
of them hurling rocks, bottled water and plastic and steel pipes at
protesters demanding better treatment for North Korean refugees in China.
Two North Korean defectors living in South Korea poured paint thinner on
themselves and tried to set themselves on fire in an attempt to protest
what they condemned as Beijing's inhumane crackdown of North Korean
refugees, but the police stopped them, according to witnesses and the
police.
The South Korean police and Chinese students also overpowered at least
two other protesters who tried to impede the run along a 25-kilometer,
or 15-mile, route through Seoul. The route was kept secret until the
last minute and guarded by more than 8,300 police officers.
In other cities, the globe-trotting relay of the torch leading up to the
Beijing Games in August has triggered protests against China's crackdown
on violent protests for independence in Tibet. In South Korea, one of
the torch's final stops before entering the safety of China,
demonstrators focused on human rights for North Koreans who live in
hiding in China after fleeing hunger in their homeland.
Around midnight Sunday, the torch was scheduled to arrive in the North
Korean capital of Pyongyang, one place where the Chinese authorities can
be sure there will be no protests. North Korea, a key ally of China,
said it was preparing an "amazing" welcome, indicating that the
totalitarian regime would mobilize hundreds of thousands of
flower-waving people.
Hours before the torch run began in Seoul, several thousand Chinese,
mostly students studying in South Korea, converged in this city's
Olympic Park, singing, chanting and waving pickets that said "We love
China" or "Go, Go China." With groups of Chinese rocking their shoulders
and marching around with red-and-yellow Chinese flags wrapped around
them, the park turned into a veritable sea of red.
When lone protesters demanded that China stop repatriating North Korean
refugees, they were quickly surrounded by jeering Chinese. Near the
park, Chinese students surrounded and beat a small group of protesters,
news re****ts said.
In another scuffle, at the city center where the five-hour torch run
ended, Chinese surrounded several Tibetans and South Korean sup****ters
who unfurled pro-Tibet banners, and kicked and punched them, witnesses
said.
The largest scuffle erupted shortly after the first torch-bearer left
the Olympic Park, surrounded by dozens of police officers on foot or on
bicycles and hundreds more in buses and trailed by a water cannon,
ambulances and helicopters circling overhead.
Many of the Chinese gathered at the park surged toward about 150
protesters, mostly old South Koreans and North Korean defectors, who
were shouting "No human rights, No Olympics" from across a boulevard.
Armed with plastic ****elds, the police scuffled with the Chinese as they
tried to separate the two groups who were hurling objects at each other.
At least one Chinese student was hauled away by the police for throwing
a rock. A South Korean newspaper photographer was carried to hospital
for treatment of a cut on his head.
The torch arrived in Seoul from Nagano, Japan, where protesters hurled
garbage and flares during its run on Saturday and brawled with patriotic
Chinese, who accused the West of vilifying Beijing. There too, Chinese
sup****ters far outnumbered those protesting the run.
Although the torch run stirred little interest among South Koreans in
general, thousands of North Korean defectors in the South and their
sup****ters saw it as an op****tunity to press Beijing to better protect
North Korean refugees in China.
In recent years, thousands of North Koreans have fled across the loosely
controlled Chinese border, rather than the heavily fortified border with
South Korea. China sends back North Koreans it catches as illegal
economic migrants, a policy condemned by rights groups. They face
life-threatening punishment in labor camps once repatriated, according
to rights groups.
"Even as it is preparing for the Olympics, China is arresting North
Korean refugees and sending them to the valley of death. Is that an
Olympic spirit?" said Han Chang Kwon, a leader of North Korean defectors.
Norbert Vollertsen, a German doctor and advocate for North Korean
refugees, found himself surrounded by jeering Chinese students on Sunday.
"This torch run reminds me of Hitler, who first invented it in 1936 to
divert world attention from human rights problems in Germany under the
disguise of 'world harmony,' " he said. "You will see a scary Nazi-like
scene tomorrow when the torch runs through Pyongyang and all those
people are mobilized for the event."
Several Western countries, including the United States, have urged China
to resume talks with aides of the Dalai Lama, who Beijing has accused of
masterminding recent unrest in Tibet. On Sunday, China continued
attacking the Tibetan leader and encouraged protesters against Tibetan
self-rule as patriotic heroes.
Many placards Chinese waved on Sunday in Seoul criticized the Dalai Lama.
"Tibet is part of China forever," one said.
International Herald Tribune
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