Beijing  -  French retailer Carrefour and US broadcaster CNN are both well-known in China but in the past month the two global names have been blackened by patriotic Chinese mounting campaigns against them.

Western support for Tibetans, media coverage, and protests during the Olympic torch relay have spurred an outpouring of popular and government anger against US and European media, rights groups and politicians.

Mobile telephone and online messages distributed this week urge Chinese citizens to boycott of all Carrefour stores between May 8 and May 24.

"The reasons are that a major shareholder in Carrefour donates to the Dalai Lama, many people in France support Tibetan independence, and even the French president claimed that he would boycott the Beijing Olympic Games over this," one message said.

"Let them see the power of the Chinese people and the Chinese netizens," it said.

The foreign ministry on Tuesday declined to condemn the campaign and said it reflected Chinese citizens' "own opinions and emotions."

"We hope the French side can listen to the Chinese people's voices concerning the recent problems [in Tibet] and adopt an objective position," ministry spokesman Jiang Yu told reporters.

CNN attracted heavy Chinese criticism, like the BBC and other Western media, for its alleged bias in reporting the widespread protests and riots in Tibetan areas of China over the past month.

Asked about the creation of an Anti-cnn. com wesbite in China, Jiang said earlier that "irresponsible and unethical reports" had "infuriated our people to voice voluntarily their condemnation and criticism."

China has also accused the European Parliament of "arrogant interference" by making a resolution calling for China to hold dialogue with the Dalai Lama and criticizing China's "brutal repression" of Tibetans.

On Tuesday, three Chinese activists gathered outside the EU embassy in Beijing to hold the first known public protest over the recent Western approach to Tibet.

"We demand that the European Parliament immediately annuls this resolution and apologises to the Chinese people, otherwise we will take further action," the activists said in a copy of the petition, which was later handed to an EU official.

The activists accused the parliament of "interference in China's internal affairs," "staining the Olympic spirit" and "attempting to split China."

One petitioner, Li Nan, said the activists were considering another petition to the US embassy, after the US House of Representatives passed a similar resolution on Tibet.

"The EU passed this resolution first, on April 10, so we are still thinking about that one," Li told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.

Armed police stood by but took no action against the petitioners, even though China normally forbids any form of political protest.

But in a sign that the government may be trying to limit the scope of the campaign against Carrefour, the sending via China Mobile of text messages containing the firm's Chinese name, Jialefu, appeared to be blocked on Wednesday.

Chinese citizens have also harassed and threatened some foreign journalists who went on a government-organised trip last month to Lhasa, the Tibetan capital.

The journalists, mainly from US media, were accused of failing to report accurately on the recent rioting in Lhasa.

Police have detained thousands of people since protests began began on March 10 in Lhasa, where they escalated into serious rioting on March 14.

The Chinese government has said 19 people were killed in the violence in Lhasa but the Tibetan government-in-exile said about 140 people were killed, most of them Tibetans shot by Chinese police.

Similar protests and rioting have hit dozens of other Tibetan areas of China.

Reports of China's tough handling of Tibetan protesters have added impetus to the campaign targeting the Olympic torch relay.

Attempts to disrupt the relay in London, Paris and other cities have prompted more outcries from Chinese internet users and the government.

In a speech last Friday, Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said many Chinese believed that Western supporters of Tibetans "want to inflict maximum humiliation on China and the Chinese people".

"The outrage in China, especially among the young, can be read on the flooded internet bulletin boards, all carrying virulent anti-foreign sentiments," Lee said at a conference in Singapore organized by the London School of Economics.

Lee warned the Western protestors that "these displays of contempt for China and things Chinese will have consequences ... well beyond the Olympic Games". (dpa)