BEIJING OLYMPICS 2008

Thousands cheer Olympic torch relay in Hong Kong

Friday 02 May 2008

Tens of thousands of people turned out to cheer the Beijing Olympic torch in Hong Kong. The torch relay ended after a trouble-free run. AFP correspondent Guy Newey reports.

Special Report The Beijing 2008 Olympic Games

Friday 02 May 2008

By AFP

The Olympic torch made a trouble-free journey Friday through the streets of Hong Kong, kicking off the final Chinese leg of a worldwide journey marred by angry protests over Tibet and democracy.

After weeks of demonstrations that turned the torch relay into a public relations nightmare for Beijing following its crackdown in Tibet, the flame was greeted here with pomp and celebration -- and only a minimum of agitation.

Police detained a handful of people amid scuffles and scattered protests, but said they were later released. There were no serious incidents, and even the early morning rain held off for the rest of the day.

Friday's eight-hour relay came to a close at Hong Kong's Golden Bauhinia Square, site of the 1997 ceremony where colonial power Britain formally handed Hong Kong back to China.

Earlier, it criss-crossed the city -- carried by 120 different people, rowed on traditional dragon boats and even ferried across the city's famed Victoria Harbour, escorted by a fireboat shooting jets of water into the sky.

The 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.

But instead the day became a show of Chinese solidarity and patriotism. Tens of thousands of spectators lined streets, piers and riverbanks across the city, most dressed in the red of China and many visiting from the mainland.

Windsurfer Lee Lai-shan, Hong Kong's only Olympic gold medallist, had begun the relay, carrying the flame on the homestretch to mainland China, which is hosting the Olympics for the first time from August 8-24.

While there were only a few scattered protests, those people who did speak out where often shouted down by the crowd and had to be protected by cordons of police officers.

People in the crowd shouted "Go home!" at protesters and even foreigners, amid a backlash following the international criticism of Beijing's Communist rulers following the crackdown in Tibet.

"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.

While Tibet has been the focus of many 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," said Farrow, who also lashed out at most of the corporate sponsors of the 2008 Games.

"History will note their silence," she said. "I'm disgusted."

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.

On Saturday, the torch will be paraded through the gambling haven of Macau before being flown to mainland China for the rest of its journey -- including through Tibet -- before the August 8 Games opening ceremony.

The demonstrations that have dogged the relay were sparked by a crackdown in Tibet that began on March 14, 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."