Hundreds of protesters gathered at Carrefour outlets in several major cities yesterday, shouting slogans against the retail giant, as well as against CNN and "Tibet independence".

They also expressed support for the Beijing Olympics.

Two protesters chanted "Boycott Carrefour" and "Oppose CNN" in front of the Carrefour store in Zhongguancun - a high-tech industrial zone in Beijing - at midday, but were taken away by police soon after.

At another outlet, on Baishiqiao Road not far from Zhongguancun, a few young protesters waved Chinese national flags. The store operated as usual.

There were no reports of protests at other Beijing Carrefour outlets.

The public targeted the French retailer in response to a disruption to the Olympic torch relay in Paris early last month, and called for a boycott of Carrefour during the May Day holiday.

Chinese Internet users also accused Carrefour of supporting Tibet secession forces, a charge that the company has denied.

Jose Luis Duran, chairman of the retail giant, said in a recent interview that "Carrefour and its branches have given no direct or indirect support to any political or religious group".

He also said Carrefour would do its utmost to support the Beijing Olympic Games.

An unnamed official from the Ministry of Commerce said recently that 99 percent of Carrefour's 40,000 employees in China are Chinese, and 95 percent of the products it sells are made in China.

The Chinese government has also commended the way it runs its Chinese businesses and thanked it for supporting the Beijing Olympics.

There have also been calls for people to express their patriotism rationally.

"We should let the world hear our rational voice, not noise," Kong Feifei, a student pursuing a master's degree at China Foreign Affairs University, said yesterday.

The Xinhua News Agency also reported protests in Changsha, Fuzhou, Chongqing and Shenyang yesterday.

In Changsha, capital of Hunan province, hundreds of protesters gathered at a Carrefour outlet around 10 am.

They held banners that read "Support Olympics", "Oppose Tibet Independence", "Love China" and "Unity is Power".

They tried to persuade people not to patronize the store, but police blocked the entrance "to avoid any accident", an officer at the scene said.

In Fuzhou, capital of Fujian province, some young people held national flags and handed out leaflets in the square outside a Carrefour store.

About 40 police arrived at the scene to maintain order in the morning.

The number of people in the square reached about 1,000 by 11 am. An additional 100 police officers eventually arrived on the scene and persuaded them to leave. By 1 pm, the square was quiet.

In Shenyang, capital of Liaoning province, dozens of students carrying Chinese flags stood outside an outlet of Carrefour at 9:20 am. They were soon taken away by police.

A college student surnamed Ye shopping in a Carrefour shop in Hefei, Anhui province, said he had noted the claim that any boycott against Carrefour could effect Chinese suppliers.

"After I saw Carrefour's supportive actions toward the Olympics, I changed my mind," said Ye, who had earlier demonstrated against the retailer on April 19.

Protests were held in Wuhan, Kunming, Qingdao, Xi'an, Jinan, Harbin and Dalian from April 19 to 20.

Yesterday, however, Carrefour's outlets in such cities as Kunming, Wuhan and Hefei maintained normal operation.

Carrefour China announced last week it had cancelled its May Day sales and advertisements to "guarantee customer safety".

(Xinhua News Agency, China Daily, May 2, 2008)