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The Olympic Park in Songpa-gu, southwestern Seoul was swarming with over 6,500 Chinese students and residents in Korea on Sunday afternoon holding or wrapping their bodies in Chinese flags. Many carried banners declaring, ¡°We love China¡±, ¡°We will let real China known to the world¡±, and ¡°Tibet belongs to China forever.¡±
Before the Korean leg of the Olympic torch relay that had brought them together, some 180 activists were protesting against China¡¯s repatriation of North Korean refugees and forceful repression in Tibet, shouting ¡°No Human Rights, No Olympic Games!¡± They were soon confronted by more than 1,000 China supporters who were led by a man with a loudhailer shouting, ¡°Jiayou Zhongguo! (Way to go, China!)¡±, their voices completely drowned out. Some pro-Chinese demonstrators threw paper cups and rocks at the activists.
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Chinese men pose at a rally to support the Beijing Olympics at Seoul City Plaza in Seoul on Sunday, when the Olympic torch relay passed through the city. /Newsis
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Chinese students studying here seemed well organized in their efforts to guard the Olympic torch. Messages calling for concerted action began to appear in an online club of Chinese students in Korea two weeks ago. A 22-year-old Chinese student who said he studies at Korea University of Technology and Education said 30,000 Beijing Olympic T-shirts and 30,000 Chinese flags were sent to the demonstrators from China the day before the relay. Kim Seong-yong (71) from Seoul, who witnessed the event, said he had ¡°never seen so many Chinese flags waving in central Seoul, not even during the Korean War.¡±
Even though 68 relay runners ran 22 km from the Olympic Park to City Hall, not many citizens were able to witness the relay because of police guards and some 6,500 Chinese supporters. A police officer said more than 9,300 police were mobilized to ensure the smooth running of the event, but there was no need as so many Chinese people came out to protect the relay. ¡°Who could possibly stop the Olympic flame when there are so many people out to protect it?¡± the officer said.
When the torch was passing Sincheon Station in Songpa-gu at about 3 p.m., however, a North Korean defector was arrested after jumping into the relay route to snatch away the torch. He said he was protesting against China's forceful repatriation of North Korean refugees. ¡°Many people died because they were sent back, and I tried to show my protest by putting out the torch,¡± he said. Police arrested three Koreans and one Chinese student for interfering with the torch relay.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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