Defending China's Olympic dream, one beat-up protester at a time

A Chinese student kicked a South Korean protester yesterday in Olympic Park in Seoul. South Korean demonstrators focused on human rights for North Koreans who are hiding in China. (CHOI WON-SUK/AFP/Getty Images)

Yeah - this whole thing is boding really well...

SEOUL - Thousands of young Chinese who assembled to defend their country's troubled Olympic torch relay pushed through police lines yesterday, some of them hurling rocks, bottled water, and plastic and steel pipes at protesters who were demanding better treatment for North Korean refugees in China.

Two North Korean defectors living in South Korea poured paint thinner on themselves and tried to set themselves on fire to protest what they condemned as Beijing's inhumane crackdown on North Korean refugees, but the police stopped them, according to witnesses and officials.

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 was guarded by more than 8,300 police officers.

I know and I empathize with the argument that these athletes have poured time, energy, hard work and money into their training. But I think that every Olympic athlete has got to ask him/herself: How will I feel if another Tiananmen Square Massacre happens during the games? How will I feel if nothing happens on that scale, but I still witness Chinese police/military using force on protesters?

I also thought the whole idea that Chinese students were helping to quash the protests in Korea to be both ironic and tragic.

What a difference 19 years makes.

There's also a story in the ADN today about Tibetan exiles living in Anchorage. I will always regret not taking the time to go see the Dalai Lama when he visited here several years ago.