Olympic's Shame

Wife and I were at Leicester Square, London on the 6th April to witness the Olympics touch relay.
The day started with a huge snowfall, pretty unexpected as this was 'supposed' to be Spring. The decision to go to Leicester Square was made due to the desire for a 'warm bowl of noodle soup' rather than for the Olympics touch. We were unaware of the huge fiasco surrounding the touch relay beforehand. It was only after lunch did we realised that protesters were trying all kinds of ways to extinguish and put out the Olympics flame.
The atmosphere at Leicester was supportive and we could hear shouts of 'Long live Beijing', 'Long live Olympics'. For a while, I felt proud to be a Chinese and felt no different from the Chinese supporters beside us from HongKong or China.


The Olympics flame, when it arrived, was heavily guarded with at least three rings of guards surrounding the touch bearer. It was hard to see the torch bearer or the flame - on hindsight, it was not difficult to see why there was so much security.



In retrospect, the protestors do have the freedom to voice their displeasure about their views on China's policy on Tibet and human rights but I question the method through which they raise their protests. It was heart-wrenching to see protestors trying to snatch or extinguish the Olympics flame - I am not sure what they are trying to achieve in carrying out those acts. Perhaps a more meaning action such as running alongside the relay team with their flags would bring across a stronger message which will gather more supporters to their cause.



This is a huge PR lesson for China indeed, it is not lost on me that translation between the Chinese language to English may not be perfect and subtle meanings may not have been conveyed by the English media. In addition, China's hardline approach towards the protestors is likely to fuel more anger and anguish. Perhaps a more reconcilatory tone from China may be the better way forward.