By Zhang Rui
zhangr@china.org.cn
The global journey of the Olympic Torch from April 1 to May 3 is meant to spread a message of peace and friendship from the Chinese people across five continents. But some anti-China groups are desperate to disrupt the "Journey of Harmony". [
Click to see the video of the disgraceful disturbance] [Full coverage]
On April 6 in London, British police arrested 37 pro-Tibet activists who had attempted to snatch the torch and use fire extinguishers to put out the sacred flame.
The London leg of the relay, passing through ten London boroughs from Wembley Stadium to East London's O2 Arena, is the longest in the Europe. About 100,000 people were expected to attend the events. Tibetan activists and other anti-China groups vowed to protest and sabotage the relay.
(YouTube videos, posted by Chinese participants, show their vigorous presence at the Olympic torch relay event in London: Video 1 Video 2 Video 3 Video 4 Video 5)
But Chinese people also attended. Waving national flags and shouting pro-China and Olympic chants and singing patriotic songs, thousands of overseas Chinese and students turned out to line the streets at Downing Street, Greenwich, Trafalgar Square and other places. Their presence was ignored and downplayed by the western media, even though they far outnumbered the protesters.
"One brother traveled from Scotland to take part," an organizer told China.org.cn.
The British authorities deployed 2,000 police to protect the torch procession. Police said they were expecting some 500 protestors from six organizations. They warned demonstrators that if they attempted to disrupt the relay they would be arrested.
"We are here to welcome the Olympic flame and cheer for China as the host of the Olympics. It has nothing to do with politics. We don't want to see any discordant incidents happen," Zhao Songhe, a graduate of East London University said to the International Herald Leader, specifying that he said included western media bias among the "discordant incidents".
On the eve of the relay, Times columnist Simon Jenkins published a provocative article entitled "Stand up, for today you can force China through a tunnel of shame". His article drew a furious reaction from Chinese people.
China will not back down on issues concerning China's territory. So far over 2.28 million Chinese have signed their names to an online petition organized by Chinese portal Sina.com, protesting western media’s false reports on Tibet incident.
Sir Steven Redgrave, five times Olympic rowing gold medalist, attacked protestors in an article "Why I will be carrying the torch", published on the Guardian the day before London chaos. "The torch relay gives the opportunity for people from all walks of life to touch the Olympics, to feel the dream.... I think people have realized athletes are a cheap hit, a way to get publicity for whatever cause they're trying to fight for. People shouldn't use athletes who have trained hard to make political points. "