The Olympic torch set off through the Malaysian capital on Monday to rapturous cheers from Chinese supporters and tight security by police keen to avoid the disruption seen on earlier legs. More than 1 000 police and other security forces were deployed on the route from the city centre to the iconic Petronas Twin Towers.
Nationalist protests against the French supermarket chain Carrefour spread across China on Sunday, with thousands demonstrating outside stores over the West’s stance on Tibet. The authorities appeared to be trying to damp down the protests, with the official media urging citizens to be ”calm” and ”rational”.
Dogged by anti-Chinese protests in Paris, London, San Francisco and New Delhi, the Olympic torch relay is acting as a catalyst for an outpouring of nationalism and indignation by the man on the street in China. In an increasingly wired society, many, especially the internet-savvy young, have taken to the web to express their feelings.
Chinese people in several cities took to the streets on Saturday to denounce Tibetan independence and call for a boycott of French goods following anti-China protests on the Paris leg of the Olympic torch relay. Pictures from the central city of Wuhan showed large crowds marching carrying banners reading: ”Oppose Tibet independence, support the Olympics”.