The French supermarket giant, Carrefour, once again found itself at the centre of anti-West protests as demonstrations took place in towns and cities across China at the weekend. But the chain wasn’t the only specifically French target. There were also rallies outside the country’s embassy in Beijing and the French Lycée. There are signs however that the Chinese government wants to put a brake on events getting out of hand by urging its citizens to express their “patriotism with calm and responsibility.”

Meanwhile there was also a pro-Chinese rally in Paris, as well as several other major cities around the world, calling for solidarity with China and the Olympics. While the protests were against apparent bias in recent Western media coverage of Beijing’s security clampdown in Tibet, the French seem to have been singled out over and above other countries - particularly in China itself.

The Chinese government while not overtly encouraging displays of nationalism hasn’t exactly been forthcoming in playing down the tensions. It didn’t try to intervene in a citizen-led Internet campaign to boycott Carrefour, and has allowed state media to carry stories and pictures giving the impression that Western coverage of China’s dealings in Tibet and Darfur has been totally one-sided.

At the heart of the matter are of course the upcoming Olympic Games and China’s appalling human rights record. Beijing was far from amused by the events that took place in Paris earlier this month as the Olympic torch made its way through the streets of the French capital. Protesters demonstrating against China’s policy in Tibet and its refusal to reopen talks with the Dalai Lama forced the organizers to cut short the route of the torch, turning the whole thing into a public relations fiasco.

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