Hong Kong
02 May 2008
The first leg of the Olympic torch relay on Chinese soil has ended relatively trouble-free. Runners carrying the Olympic flame in Hong Kong were mainly greeted by supportive cheers. But as Claudia Blume reports from Hong Kong, there were a few voices of protest.
One activist who managed to get through immigration was American actress Mia Farrow. Speaking at the Foreign Correspondent's Club in Hong Kong on Friday, she urged Beijing to use its power to help bring peace to Sudan's Darfur region. She said she does not support a boycott of the Olympics but wants heads of state to stay away from the opening ceremony.
"For our leaders to refrain to attend the opening ceremony would send a clear signal to Beijing that their policy on certain issues is simply not acceptable," Farrow said.
Farrow and other activists say that China, which buys oil from Sudan and sells Sudan its goods, should use its economic and diplomatic clout to pressure the Khartoum government to end years of violence and abuse in Darfur.