| |
| |
![]() |
| |
|
| |
|
| |
|
LONDON: A television presenter is to carry the Olympic torch when it comes to London despite protesting over China's crackdown in Tibet, she said Friday.
Konnie Huq, a long-standing presenter of flagship BBC children's show Blue Peter, said she had wrestled with her conscience over carrying the flame next week, when it comes here on its way to the Beijing Games.
"After much consideration, I have decided to take part in this ceremony because I am committed to the Olympic ideals which reach out to people across the globe," said the 32-year-old.
But she added: "My participation does not in any way indicate support for the harsh and oppressive manner in which the Chinese regime continues to treat the people of Tibet and which I find despicable."
The sacred Olympic flame was lit earlier this week in the Greek town of Olympia, in a ceremony disrupted by pro-Tibet protestors, and will be travelling around the world before reaching Beijing in August.
Along the way it is born by armies of carriers in relay, who each run short distances before handing the torch onto the next person. The flame reaches London on April 6, next Sunday.
China's ambassador to Britain meanwhile appealed for politics to be kept separate from the Olympics.
"I'm very worried because for days, for weeks we have heard about the Beijing Olympics as if it's a UN conference for solving all domestic problems. For the Chinese it's about sports," Fu Ying told the BBC.
"There's a lot more awareness about the influence of politics and there are better means for solving political problems, but you don't solve them on the football ground, you don't solve them in the swimming pool," she said.
The Olympic flame was due to arrive in the Greek capital Athens on Saturday in the midst of a heavy security clampdown, with authorities anxious to prevent a repetition of the Olympia protests.
London is to host the next Olympic Games after Beijing, in 2012. - AFP/ac
|
