By Ye Jun (China Daily)
Updated: 2008-04-01 07:08

Mike Wen, a 24-year-old Canadian Chinese, has been staying up until 3 or 4 am every day for the past 10 days even though he has a full-time job.

The young man, who emigrated to Canada seven years ago, had been organizing a rally in downtown Vancouver that took place on Saturday afternoon. It drew 500 people.

"The purpose of the rally is to protest against the riots in Tibet and unfair Western media reports," he told China Daily during a telephone interview.

"Media reports here are so one-sided. I feel this is too much bullying," he said.

"They've predefined whatever China does as a crackdown."

The protestors spent 40 minutes walking in the downtown area waving banners saying: "We love Tibet, we love China," "No riots, we want peace," and "Stop media distortion".

There were similar rallies and gatherings in the Canadian cities of Toronto, Montreal and Calgary, as well as in Munich, Germany, and Auckland, New Zealand.

In Toronto, it is estimated that more than 2,000 Chinese people gathered downtown from 12:50 pm-2:45 pm.

Four people made speeches about the Tibetan riots. The participants waved Chinese and Canadian flags and distributed flyers.

Their banners said: "We are 56 ethnics, one China/one family", "We want our home in one piece", and "Do you know a true Tibet".

Wen Wen, a 24-year-old student who helped organize the Toronto rally, said: "I read postings on the Internet and watched video clips by Western eyewitnesses in Lhasa. Young Chinese soldiers were fending off the rioters with their blood and flesh. Some Western media reports just make me shudder."

More than 1,000 Chinese people braved strong winds and bitter cold to attend a rally at Zhongshan Park, in Montreal's Chinatown.

People displayed posters showing examples of reports by Western media and gathered signatures in support of the Beijing Olympics in August this year.

The rallies began after Chinese posted messages on the Internet. "People who wanted to participate would post replies and we communicated on the Internet," Mike Wen said.

The rally was financed by donation from participants, he said.

He had also received three or four threatening phone calls, he said.

Also on Saturday, more than 100 Chinese students staged a silent protest at the Odeonsplatz in Munich.

"Although many international media published objective reports based on a handful of eyewitness accounts and on-site videos, such different voices are missing in the German media," their protest letter said.

"We have already sensed a change of attitude toward Chinese people and China among some of our German friends, classmates and colleagues, which is both embarrassing and threatening to the Chinese community living in Germany."

Their banners said: "German friends, listen to different voices and find out the truth on your own", and "German media can muzzle our voice, but can't smother the truth".

In an e-mail to China Daily signed by 35 Chinese students in Germany who organized a rally at a railway station at Braunschweig, Lower Saxony, on March 22, a representative wrote: "Through our rally we want to tell them the truth about misleading Western media in a quiet and sensible way."