ABOUT 1,000 Chinese people marched through O'Connell Street in Dublin at the weekend in support of the Beijing Olympics.
The organisers said that the march was being held by individuals within the Chinese community because they wanted to demonstrate against the Western media's "unjust reporting of the Tibetan issue" and its attempts to politicise the Olympics.
There have been many calls in recent months for a boycott of the Olympics to protest at China's human rights record in Tibet. Clashes between anti-Chinese protesters and the Chinese authorities in Tibet made international headlines last month.
Saturday's demonstration outside the GPO heard claims that the Western world was not getting an accurate picture from its media.
Many of the marchers were students and young professionals and the event passed off fairly peacefully under a strong Garda presence. One man was removed by gardaí after he carried a poster bearing the words "Human Rights for Tibet" towards the marchers. He was jeered and had his poster grabbed before gardaí intervened.
A woman in a headscarf shouted "you should be marching for democracy" at the group as it moved down O'Connell Street. "You should go to China," a marcher shouted back at her.
One of the marchers, Marshall Liu, described the turnout as "amazing". People had come from Belfast, Limerick and Cork because they were so unhappy with the way China was being portrayed. "Our voice has not been heard. China is not perfect, but no country is perfect, and China needs friends," he said. "I don't think we should mix politics with sport."
Student Chuan Du said that the Western media was "misleading the people". She recalled when she heard China had been awarded the Olympics. "I was in secondary school. We were so happy. There was fireworks. China has been preparing for the Olympics for many, many years. Chinese people want to enjoy this moment."
The marchers waved Chinese and Olympic flags and sang patriotic songs. Some had painted the Chinese flag on their faces. They chanted "Welcome to Beijing" and some of them held placards bearing the words "Tibet was, is and always will be part of China".
Xiaoli Yang asked why there were no television cameras at the event and said the media was only interested in one side of the story.
Shu Rong said that the Chinese people had been shocked to see the Olympic torch being grabbed by protesters.
"We love the Tibetans. We just want to give the world a party. It is very important to us," she said.
"A boycott will affect the Chinese people, not the government. It will hurt us to the bone."
