HONG KONG
Olympic cheers in HK
Arthur MacMillan
Posted Fri, 02 May 2008

The troubled Olympic torch began its Chinese tour on Friday in Hong Kong, where tens of thousands cheered in the streets and there were few of the protests that have marred its relay around the world.

After weeks of demonstrations that turned the torch relay into a public relations nightmare for China following its crackdown in Tibet, the flame was greeted with pomp and celebration before heading to the mainland on Saturday.

Police detained a handful of people amid scuffles and scattered protests in support of Tibet and democracy, but said they were later released.

There were no serious incidents — a welcome change for China after previous troubles.

Windsurfer Lee Lai-shan, Hong Kong's only Olympic gold medallist, began the relay through the city's rainy streets, carrying the flame on the homestretch to Beijing, which is hosting the Olympics for the first time from 8 August.

Eight-hour tour

Friday's eight-hour tour through Hong Kong — which has a degree of political freedom absent in the mainland — was seen as the last chance for major demonstrations.

"We just want the world to know that there are many people in Hong Kong who are supporting the Chinese people," said Albert Ho, a Hong Kong legislator and democracy activist, who lead a small demonstration near the relay.

"But that includes the many people in Tibet and mainland China who do not have the freedom to speak."

In one of the few tense moments, about 100 democracy campaigners, who want the full suffrage promised to Hong Kong when Britain handed it back to China in 1997, were confronted by pro-China supporters in the street.

The pro-China crowd yelled "Go home! Get out!" as dozens of police formed a cordon between the two groups.

While Tibet has been the focus of many of the demonstrations, critics have also used the relay to take aim at China on a range of issues — even as Beijing has repeatedly insisted the Games should not be "politicised."

US actress-turned-activist Mia Farrow, also in Hong Kong on Friday, used the occasion to press China over its close links with Sudan, whose government has been blamed for failing to stop the bloodshed in its Darfur region.

"It isn't a pretty way to say this, but China is underwriting the atrocities in Darfur," Farrow told AFP in an interview.

Hong Kong was taken back into China under a policy known as "One Country, Two Systems" which allows unfettered capitalism here as well as rights of protest and expression not granted on the mainland.

Hong Kong's leader Donald Tsang, criticised by many here for not pushing Beijing hard enough on democracy, hinted at the difference in his speech at the torch-lighting ceremony.

"Diversity, tolerance and respect"

"We are a world in a city, where different people with different beliefs and different views have thrived in the spirit of diversity, tolerance and respect," Tsang said.

Many of the people crowding the streets to get a glimpse of the torch were from mainland China, where a backlash has been building over the international criticism of Beijing.

In the northeast of the territory close to the mainland border, thousands of people waved Chinese and Hong Kong flags as several dragon boats rowed down a river, one of them carrying the famous flame.

"The torch relay day is a day of joy, so I don't think it's a good idea to protest today," said Vivien Lai, a Hong Kong nurse who came with her family and boyfriend to cheer on the torch.

The demonstrations that have dogged the relay worldwide were sparked by a crackdown in Tibet that began on 14 March, after protests against China's rule of the Himalayan region erupted into violence.

Tibet's government-in-exile says more than 200 people were killed in the Chinese response, which included sealing off the region to foreign reporters and tourists, making accounts of bloodshed impossible to verify.

China said 20 people had been killed by Tibetan "rioters" until Monday, when state media for the first time said police shot dead a Tibetan pro-independence "insurgent."

AFP