Chinese Clash With Protesters in Seoul
紐約時報SEOUL, South Korea — Thousands of young Chinese assembled to defend their country’s troubled Olympic torch relay pushed through police lines on Sunday, some of them hurling rocks, bottled water and plastic and steel pipes at protesters demanding better treatment for North Korean refugees in China.
South Korean police officers blocked Chinese students as they tried to confront anti-China protesters during the Olympic torch rally in Seoul.
Police officers grappled with a demonstrator who tried to set himself on fire during the torch run in Seoul.
Two North Korean defectors living in South Korea poured paint thinner on themselves and tried to set themselves on fire in an attempt to protest what they condemned as Beijing’s inhumane crackdown of North Korean refugees, but the police stopped them, according to witnesses and the police.
The South Korean police and Chinese students also overpowered at least two other protesters who tried to impede the run along a 15-mile route through Seoul. The route was kept secret until the last minute and guarded by more than 8,300 police officers.
In other cities, the globe-trotting relay of the torch leading up to the Beijing Games in August has triggered protests against China's crackdown on violent protests for independence in Tibet. In South Korea, one of the torch's final stops before entering China, demonstrators focused on human rights for North Koreans who live in hiding in China after fleeing hunger in their homeland.
The torch was scheduled to arrive in the North Korean capital of Pyongyang. North Korea said it was preparing an “amazing” welcome, indicating that the totalitarian regime would mobilize hundreds of thousands of flower-waving people.
Hours before the torch run began in Seoul, several thousand Chinese, mostly students studying in South Korea, converged in this city's Olympic Park, singing, chanting and waving pickets that said “We love China” or “Go, Go China.”
When lone protesters demanded that China stop repatriating North Korean refugees, they were quickly surrounded by jeering Chinese. Near the park, Chinese students surrounded and beat a small group of protesters, news reports said.
In another scuffle, at the city center where the five-hour torch run ended, Chinese surrounded several Tibetans and South Korean supporters who unfurled pro-Tibet banners, and kicked and punched them, witnesses said.
The largest scuffle erupted shortly after the first torch-bearer left the Olympic Park, surrounded by dozens of police officers on foot or on bicycles and hundreds more in buses and trailed by a water cannon, ambulances and helicopters circling overhead.
Many of the Chinese gathered at the park surged toward about 150 protesters, mostly elderly South Koreans and North Korean defectors, who were shouting “No human rights, no Olympics” from across a boulevard.
Armed with plastic shields, the police scuffled with the Chinese as they tried to separate the two groups who were hurling objects at each other. At least one Chinese student was hauled away by the police for throwing a rock. A South Korean newspaper photographer was carried to hospital for treatment of a cut on his head.
The torch arrived in Seoul from Nagano, Japan, where protesters hurled garbage and flares during its run on Saturday and clashed with patriotic Chinese, who accused the West of vilifying Beijing. There, too, Chinese supporters far outnumbered those protesting the run.
Although the torch run stirred little interest among South Koreans in general, thousands of North Korean defectors in the South and their supporters saw it as an opportunity to press Beijing to better protect North Korean refugees in China.
In recent years, thousands of North Koreans have fled across the loosely controlled Chinese border, rather than the heavily fortified border with South Korea. China sends back North Koreans it catches as illegal economic migrants, a policy condemned by rights groups. They face life-threatening punishment in labor camps once repatriated, according to rights groups.
“Even as it is preparing for the Olympics, China is arresting North Korean refugees and sending them to the valley of death. Is that an Olympic spirit?” said Han Chang Kwon, a leader of North Korean defectors.
Norbert Vollertsen, a German doctor and advocate for North Korean refugees, found himself surrounded by jeering Chinese students on Sunday.
“This torch run reminds me of Hitler, who first invented it in 1936 to divert world attention from human rights problems in Germany under the disguise of 'world harmony,'” he said.
Many placards Chinese waved on Sunday in Seoul criticized the Dalai Lama, the Tibetan spiritual leader whom China accuses of instigating violence.
“Tibet is part of China forever,” one said.
BBC  雙方對陣叫罵還動粗 |
雖然有小規模的干擾，但是京奧聖火在韓國首都的傳遞行程尚稱平順，而平壤站的行程即將登場。
平壤說，當地迎接聖火的規模和形式將令世人為之"眼睛一亮"。
以平壤為首都的朝鮮是世界上最封閉的國家之一，也不可能容忍任何形式的示威與抗議。
因此，不少人預料平壤的火炬傳遞可能會是這次境外傳遞路線當中最順利的行程。
警方此前警告，任何人企圖擾亂火炬傳遞都將受到嚴懲。
他們動員的警力中，包括120名陪跑警員和一架直升機。
在首爾傳遞途中，雖然有大批留韓中國學生與僑民的助陣。
但是傳遞活動仍受到了支持西藏、抗議中國遣返朝鮮偷渡者等等團體的干擾。
一名定居韓國的"逃北者"（逃離北韓）試圖自焚，抗議中國政府遣返其兄弟，致使他們被朝鮮處決。
但是首爾市政府在沿途部署了8000名警察，令在場的警察得以制止這名男子的自焚行動。
這次助陣的學生與僑民人數明顯地遠遠超過抗議人數，雙方除了對陣叫罵之外，還互擲石塊、動粗，不過在警方勸阻之下，事態並未擴大。
聖火隨後轉往下一個境外傳遞站-朝鮮首都平壤。平壤的行程則是預定在周一（4月28日）展開。
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