Anti-Carrefour protests spread

Thousands of demonstrators across at least 10 cities demonstrated outside Carrefour stores over the weekend, the Financial Times reported. Several stores were forced to close in what were reportedly the largest protests in China since anti-Japanese demonstrations in 2005. Meanwhile, a front-page editorial in the People's Daily urged people to express patriotism "in an orderly and legal manner." In Beijing, dozens of police, some wearing riot gear, dispersed protestors outside the French Embassy. The protests were ignited by the disruption of the Beijing Olympic torch relay in Paris on April 7 and suggestions in some Chinese media that the company had given money to the Dalai Lama. Jose Luis Duran, chief executive of Carrefour, denied the accusation and insisted that the backlash had not affected Carrefour's sales so far.